Biden Goes Bold on The Supreme Court. He Can Be Bolder.

President Biden signals he's fed up with the corrupt conservative majority on the Supreme Court and is willing to reflect popular opinion by pushing for major progressive changes.

I have encouraged President Biden to be bold and fearless in the final months of his presidency after announcing he wouldn’t be seeking re-election. He has little to lose and much to gain in terms of both cementing his legacy and helping Democrats by going on non-stop offense against an extremist, “weird,” authoritarian GOP that wants to dismantle our democracy.

Most importantly, he can reflect the will of the people who are sick and tired of being subjected to minoritarian rule due to structural deficiencies in our weakened institutions. Well, Biden did exactly that on Monday and introduced a 3 part plan to reform our thoroughly compromised Supreme Court. The requests are entirely reasonable.

The founding fathers didn’t fight in an American Revolution against the British Empire so Americans would one day be ruled by a criminal rapist and fraudster who rants about fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter. The Supreme Court’s recent “absolute immunity” ruling for “official acts'' was gift-wrapped for Trump to escape any accountability for his 88 criminal indictments across 4 criminal cases, which includes his role in inciting a violent insurrection. “The No One is Above the Law Amendment '' would ensure that corrupt Presidents, like Nixon and Trump, would not get a permanent get out of jail free card for their criminal extracurricular activities.

The second reform on “Term Limits” can remedy a major mistake of giving these unelected Supreme Court justices a lifetime appointment to the highest judiciary in the land. It was always absurd and dangerous. President Biden proposes 18-year term limits. If Presidents serve four years, Senators serve six years, and members of the House serve two years, then there’s no reason a Supreme Court Justice should get a lifetime appointment and be allowed to sit on a throne of immense power until death or voluntary retirement.

The third and final reform calls for a “Binding Code of Conduct for the Supreme Court” that would require Justices like Clarence Thomas to disclose the numerous lavish gifts and trips that are bestowed upon them by right-wing billionaire groomers. It would also force them to recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have a conflict of interest. The inclusion of “spouse” is both welcomed and necessary. We know the spouses of Justices Thomas and Alito have supported Trump’s failed violent insurrection. Alito’s wife, Marth-Ann, went full Lady Macbeth (without regret) and has shown zero remorse for flying two flags at two different properties associated with the violent insurrection. Meanwhile, Ginni Thomas sent supportive texts to Mark Meadows during the insurrection and wanted to help Trump “purge” the government of people who weren’t MAGA loyalists.

The majority of Americans realize they are now permanently hijacked by MAGA operatives in black robes who are doing the will of right-wing billionaires and Christian nationalists. These freaks mold the Constitution like Play Doh and are attempting to undo a century of progress from the bench because they know their policies are toxic and unpopular. They’ve gone after abortion rights, affirmative action, voting rights, and regulations. And they won’t stop. According to Data for Progress, 74% of voters support term limits and 77% support a code of ethics. Less than a week ago, Justice Elena Kagan affirmed her support for the Supreme Court adopting a code of ethics.

Again, all of this is common sense which should be embraced by both political parties to ensure there are checks and balances in our democracy. Naturally, Republicans don’t like it. Speaker Mike Johnson, a Christian nationalist, earlier today referred to the proposed reforms as a “dangerous gambit” that would “delegitimize” the Supreme Court. According to Politico, conservative kingmaker Leonard Leo, who spent years engineering a GOP takeover of the judiciary, alleged Democrats want to “destroy a court that they disagree with.” Meanwhile, these hypocrites had no problem with Senator Mitch McConnell denying President Obama a chance to seat Merrick Garland.

I say let Republicans whine and cry. We, the majority, owe them and their white Christian nationalist agenda nothing. Enough is enough. As such, President Biden should be even bolder and start mainstreaming the concept of expanding the Supreme Court. There is absolutely nothing in the Constitution that fixes the number of Supreme Court seats to nine. At one point we even had ten Justices.

In 2024, the Supreme Court should be expanded to thirteen judges. The majority of Americans are already placed in a headlock due to lack of appropriate representation in the Senate and the electoral college. The state of California has the same number of senators as Wyoming. Even though Democrats win the popular vote, each election comes down to a handful of swing states. But expanding the court is too radical, Waj! The majority won’t go for it! Well, we were told the majority would never accept a Black woman for President until it became a potential reality over a week ago. I’m old enough to remember that marriage equality and a living wage were too “radical” as well.

You have to will this into existence by sharing and promoting the idea. According to Take Back The Court, 52% of Americans support expanding the rebalancing of the Supreme Court when they are told Republicans have controlled the Court for more than 50 years. The Judiciary Act of 2023, which could add four seats to the Supreme Court, is supported by more than 60 members of Congress. Support for this proposal has the backing of more than 130+ organizations.

The reality remains that Democrats lack the votes to implement any of these reforms. The goal is to mainstream the idea of reform and prime the majority to accept and push for its potential reality. It also rallies the majority who want Democrats to at least fight and come up with proposals instead of sounding like impotent somnambulists who just throw up their hands and say, “Vote.”

I hope President Biden continues to go big before going home at the end of his term. Americans and democracy will one day thank him for it.