House Speaker Mike Johnson called President Biden’s plan for Supreme Court term limits “absurd.”
The Louisiana Republican pushed back on changes to the high court following reports that Mr. Biden will push for limiting how long justices can serve and imposing an ethics code on the Supreme Court.
“It’s absurd. First, they propose they wanted to expand the number of justices when things don’t go their way. Then they wanted to impeach a couple of them. Now he wants term limits. It’s absurd,” Mr. Johnson told Fox Business.
“That would never be passed through Congress. And by the way, it’s in the Constitution that they serve for life based on their good behavior. So we would have to change everything about the tradition and the way that the court is organized.”
The Washington Post this week reported the president plans to endorse legislation on term limits and the ethics code. He could also push for a constitutional amendment that would eliminate broad immunity for presidents, according to the outlet.
The proposals follow the conclusion this month of the justices’ 2023-24 term, which gave former President Donald Trump major victories — including rebuffing state challenges to eliminating his name from the 2024 ballot and giving him some protection from criminal prosecution.
The rulings outraged liberals, who saw the opinions issued by a 6-3 conservative Supreme Court cemented by Mr. Trump with his three appointments — Justices Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
Democrats have been critical of Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr., too, suggesting they should recuse themselves from cases related to the 2020 election.
Liberals say the justices had conflicts of interest, as Justice Thomas’ wife attended the Jan. 6, 2021, rally at the U.S. Capitol and Justice Alito’s wife flew flags outside their homes sympathetic to the “Stop the Steal” movement.
Both justices rebuffed the calls to recuse, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York Democrat, introduced articles of impeachment against them this month.
The Constitution says a justice, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, may serve for life subject to impeachment.
• Lindsey McPherson contributed to this report.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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