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.) said on July 30 that President Joe Biden’s proposal for term limits for Supreme Court justices would be “dead on arrival” in Congress.

He said at the U.S. Capitol that the Constitution provides life appointments for justices and that Biden “absolutely knows” his proposal would be “unconstitutional.”

“I couldn’t be more disappointed,“ 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.

Biden’s July 30 proposals were quickly met with strong opposition from congressional Republicans. Like 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 proposals.

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

Judiciary ranking Republican member Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.), meanwhile, released a statement describing the reform effort as “a violation of the separation of powers” and said it 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, 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 presumptive Democrat nominee Vice President 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 said in a post on 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 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 for a national convention to take the place of Congress in the initial step toward ratification.