McConnell Responds to Biden’s Proposal for Supreme Court Term Limits

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) speaks during the weekly Senate presser in the U.S. Capitol building in Washington on July 9, 2024. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday said that President Joe Biden’s proposed term limits for Supreme Court justices would be “dead on arrival” in Congress.

“I know [President Biden] knows better, and such a proposal would be dead on arrival in Congress,” he said at the U.S. Capitol. He said the Constitution provided life appointments for justices and that President Biden “absolutely knows” his proposal would be “unconstitutional.”

“I couldn’t be more disappointed,“ Mr. McConnell said. ”This is a man who was chairman of the Judiciary Committee for a long time.”

His comments cast further doubt on the success of the president’s multi-pronged approach, which also includes a binding code of ethics and constitutional amendment prohibiting criminal immunity for presidents.

President Biden’s July 30 proposals were quickly met with strong opposition from congressional Republicans. Like Mr. McConnell, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the proposals “dead on arrival.”

Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) have both welcomed the reforms.

“I’m glad President Biden called for undoing the damage of this immunity decision,” Mr. Schumer said in a post on X. “And in the Senate, I’m working to pursue this idea through legislation.”

Judiciary Ranking Member Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), meanwhile, released a statement describing the reform effort as “a violation of the separation of powers and is designed to undercut the highest Court in the land.”

The term limits proposal would allow presidents to appoint a new justice every two years with each justice’s term of “active service” ending after 18 years, President Biden said in an op-ed for The Washington Post. In the op-ed, he cited the Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court of the United States, which he formed in 2021.

The commission’s report suggested a constitutional amendment setting up 18-year terms, adding that the amendment might define justices who have reached the end of their terms as “‘Senior Justices,’ who continue to hold offices as Article III judges but no longer participate in the day-to-day operation of the Court.”

The proposals will likely feature prominently on the 2024 campaign trail as vice president and presumptive Democrat nominee Kamala Harris has endorsed the reforms and criticized the court’s actions.

“There is a clear crisis of confidence facing the U.S. Supreme Court,” she in a post to X on July 29.

Constitutional amendments require state and national approval for ratification.

According to Article V of the Constitution, Congress can send the issue to the states after two-thirds of both the House and Senate approve an amendment. From there, three-fourths of the state legislatures or state ratifying conventions must also approve. Article V allows a national convention to take the place of Congress in the initial step toward ratification.