President Biden is preparing to call for term limits and an enforceable ethics code for U.S. Supreme Court justices in what would be sweeping changes to the court and the way it operates. The proposals are a long shot because a constitutional amendment or congressional action — two routes that would likely be needed — are next to impossible in the current political climate. The plans themselves mark a sea change for Biden who had previously resisted any changes to the court, NPR reports. The ideas were welcomed by ethics watchdogs. "The vast majority of the country, regardless of party, believes the justices should not serve for life but they should be subject to basic oversight like Congress and the executive are," said Gabe Roth of Fix the Courts, a group that advocates for Supreme Court reform. Justices enjoy a lifetime appointment and can decide on their own whether to adhere to the court’s newly adopted ethics rules.
Scrutiny of the court has heightened amid scandals involving Justice Clarence Thomas, who took free trips and received gifts from a conservative mega donor, and Justice Samuel Alito, whose wife flew two flags associated with the far-right movement loyal to former President Trump. Biden is trying to appeal to his party’s left flank, which supports an overhaul of the Supreme Court — though the White House believes that the issue polls well among independent voters, Republican voters, and a large swath of important demographic groups. On Saturday, Biden spoke about the plans with a group of progressive lawmakers, one of a series of calls he has held with Democrats to shore up support after he froze up in a debate last month with Trump, prompting questions about whether he should stay in his race for a second term. Biden had planned to lay out his thinking about the court in a speech in Austin at the LBJ Library on Monday. The trip — timed to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act — was postponed after the attempted assassination of Trump.
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