Attacking the Supreme Court
3rd August 2024
Last week, President Joe Biden proposed an 18 year term limit and an ethics code for Supreme Court justices, and a repeal of the Court’s presidential immunity decision. Presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Kamala Harris promptly agreed. The unseriousness of this proposal is visible in its brevity, at just 500 words. This isn’t a plan, it’s a press release.
It’s a dangerous press release because, though it has no chance of being enacted, it is part of a campaign to undermine the public’s belief in the Supreme Court, with the goal of ending the Court’s independence from progressive mandates.
Since 1953, every Chief Justice has been nominated by a Republican president. Seventeen of the associate justices who have served since then were nominated by Democrat presidents, and 17 by Republican presidents. Earl Warren, a former Republican governor of California, sought the Republican nomination for president in 1952. He was defeated by Dwight Eisenhower, who, after going on to win the presidency, nominated Warren to serve as Chief Justice. He was confirmed by acclamation and served until 1969, presiding over a transformation of the role and politics of the Supreme Court.