Biden says court reform needed to protect civil rights in speech marking landmark desegregation law

The president wants Congress to impose a binding code of ethics on the high court

President Joe Biden says his proposal to reform the nation’s highest court is in keeping with the tradition of expanding and protecting civil rights and a justified response to the current Supreme Court’s effort to roll back a whole host of rights enjoyed by Americans and plans laid out in Donald Trump’s “Project 2025.”

Speaking at the Lyndon Johnson presidential library at a Monday event to mark the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act that ended legal segregation in America, Biden said Republicans are “planning another onslaught” of attacks against civil rights to follow up on the end of the federal right to abortion and restrictions on enforcement of the Voting Rights Act signed into law by Johnson nearly six decades ago.

He also slammed the high court for its’ recent decision granting presidents broad immunity for official acts in response to Trump’s effort to avoid criminal charges stemming from his efforts to unlawfully remain in office after losing the 2020 election.

“The court is being used to weaponize an extreme and unchecked agenda,” he said, adding that the immunity ruling in Trump v United States was “a total affront to the basic expectations we have for those who wield the power in this nation.”

“That’s a fundamentally flawed view and a fundamentally flawed principle, a dangerous principle,” he said.

Continuing, Biden also cited the “crisis of ethics” personified by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both of whom have refused to recuse themselves from cases brought by interests funded by wealthy donors who have gifted them significant personal financial benefits.

President Joe Biden speaks at an event commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, Monday, July 29, 2024, at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas (AP)

“These scandals involving the justices have caused public opinion to question the court’s fairness and independence that are essential to faithfully carrying out its mission of equal justice under the law,” he said, adding that the “decades-long effort to reshape the judiciary” that has been “backed by shadow special interests that also support Project 2025.”

He also assailed the court’s ruling as “a ruling for one” — the man who appointed three of them, former president Trump — and called for a constitutional amendment to repudiate the Trump immunity ruling and hold that no president is immune from prosecution for crimes committed in office.

Biden also said he is asking for law to impose term limits on Supreme Court justices and a binding ethics code on the high court, calling the current one “weak — and even more frightening, voluntary.”

“The court is not self-policing. The court is not dealing with the obvious conflicts of interest. We need a mandatory code of ethics for the Supreme Court, and we need it now.”

Biden added that the reforms he is calling for would “restore trust in the courts” and “preserve the system of checks and balances that are vital to our democracy” and said he looks forward to working with Congress to implement them.

He also noted that the US would soon celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, and said to mark that milestone Americans “can and must protect and expand civil rights in America” and “prevent the abuse of presidential power and restore faith in the Supreme Court.”

“We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy,” he added.

The president’s remarks were his first major public appearance since his historic decision to stand down from his re-election bid just over one week ago.

Biden’s plan to push forward with a court reform plan, aides say, indicates a desire to get on with the work he’d planned to focus on had he decided to carry on with running for a second term, rather than a shift towards cementing a legacy for himself.

His announcement came years after he’d punted on calls from the leftward reaches of his party to put political capital behind Democratic proposals to “pack” the court by naming more justices to counterbalance the right-wing supermajority installed under his predecessor.

But Biden said he now believes reforms are necessary “based on all [his] experience,” including decades on the Senate Judiciary Committee overseeing nominations to all federal courts.

In a Washington Post op-ed announcing his proposals, Biden said the “bold plan” is necessary to “restore trust and accountability,” and warned that the Supreme Court’s immunity decision means  “there are virtually no limits on what a president can do.”

“This nation was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law. Not the president of the United States. Not a justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. No one,” he wrote.

Biden warned that, under the landmark ruling, “there may be no legal consequences” for future January 6 Capitol riots.

“And that’s only the beginning,” he warned, adding that the US is “a nation of laws — not of kings or dictators.”

He concluded: “We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power. We can and must restore the public’s faith in the Supreme Court. We can and must strengthen the guardrails of democracy.”