Biden seeks court reform before his term ends

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – President Joe Biden announced he wants to focus on Supreme Court reform in his final six months in office, in an Oval Office address on Wednesday.

“He believes if you are serving in high office, you should be held to a transparency, accountability and you should be held to a high ethics,” said Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House Press Secretary.

The president has seriously considered proposals to establish term limits and an ethics code that would be enforceable under law, according to people briefed on the plans.

“This is critical to our democracy,” President Biden said from the Oval Office.

Democrats have criticized Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both appointed by Republican presidents, for accepting luxury trips from GOP donors and not disclosing them.

“It’s a court which is out of control,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).

Markey went beyond Biden, calling on Congress to add more justices to the Supreme Court.

“The highest court in the land became the source of the lowest principles in our land,” Markey said.

Any plan to change the Supreme Court would need Congressional approval, where Republicans have the majority in the House and 60 votes are needed in the Senate. Democrats have a slim, one vote majority.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas.) serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee and said the proposal by President Biden is an effort to add justices to the court.

“I think this is a really transparent effort to change the court,” Cornyn said. “They’ve been hypercritical of the decisions made by the court rather than respecting those decisions.”

President Biden has not yet formally announced his proposal for reforming the court.

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