Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch responded Aug. 4 to the Biden administration’s calls to reform the high court by urging proponents to “be careful” with such proposals, stressing that he believes it’s important for the judiciary to be independent.
President Joe Biden last week proposed an 18-year term limit on justices, an enforceable code of ethics, and a constitutional amendment in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in June relating to presidential immunity.
When asked by Fox News on Sunday about the proposals, Gorsuch demurred by saying that “you are not going to be surprised that I’m not going to get into what’s now a political issue during a presidential election here. I don’t think that would be helpful.”
“I have one thought to add: It is what the independent judiciary means—what does it mean to you as an American?” asked Gorsuch. “It means that when you are unpopular, you can get a fair hearing under the law and under the Constitution.
“If you are in the majority, you don’t need judges and juries to hear you and protect your rights. You are popular! It’s there for the moments when the spotlight is on you, when the governor’s coming after you. And don’t you want a ferociously independent judge and a jury of your peers?” Gorsuch asked. “Isn’t that your right as an American? And so I just say, be careful.”
In an announcement on July 29, Biden said he would work with Congress to enact a series of reforms for the Supreme Court. However, immediate opposition voiced by Republicans in Congress means the proposals have little chance of enactment.
Up until that point, Biden had largely resisted pleas from his progressive base to push for changes to the court. Before he was sworn into office in early 2021, some left-wing lawmakers had suggested that he work to “pack,” or expand, the Supreme Court to enable the appointment of more justices of their political persuasion on the bench.
“We need these reforms to restore trust in the court,” Biden said in his July speech marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Biden called on Congress to pass binding and enforceable rules that would require the justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.
“I believe the best structure is the 18-year term limit. That would ensure that the country does not have what it has now,” he said before saying the current majority is pushing an “extreme agenda.”
Biden recently ended his reelection bid and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic candidate.
Harris, a former prosecutor and California attorney general, said in a statement July 29 that “in our democracy, no one should be above the law. So we must also ensure that no former president has immunity for crimes committed while in the White House.”
Republicans quickly pushed back on the administration’s proposals for the court.
“That’s what some people were trying to do Jan. 6—to break the system of handing an administration from one to the next,” McConnell said. “We can have our arguments, but we ought to not try to break the rules.”
McConnell said that he was “disappointed” by Biden’s announcement, noting that when the president was a senator, he was once chairman of the Judiciary Committee.
“He absolutely knows what he recommended is unconstitutional, to try to limit the terms of the Supreme Court justices who under the Constitution are appointed for life,” McConnell said.
“Rules usually have enforcement mechanisms attached to them, and this one, this set of rules, does not,” Kagan said before adding that “however hard it is, we could and should try to figure out some mechanism for doing this.”
