Supreme Court Reform: What do people, politicians think?

(NewsNation) — President  Joe Biden is expected to propose several changes to the Supreme Court — something polls indicate would be popular with Americans from both political parties. 

Reforms Biden will suggest are term limits for justices and an enforceable ethics code, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. In addition, the Post wrote, is weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad presidential immunity.

This overhaul of the nation’s highest court comes amid several high-stakes rulings, including the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the killing of Biden’s student loan forgiveness program, and ethics scandals involving Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.

Even with support from the public, changes to the Supreme Court require approval from Congress, which experts say makes it a long shot. 

Polls show public wants Supreme Court Reform 

A poll conducted by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in the final days of the court’s most recent term showed public confidence in the justices is low. Only 16% of adults asked have a great deal of confidence in the people running the Supreme Court, the AP-NORC poll showed. 

This is a similar result from AP-NORC polls from 2022 and 2023. The poll from 2022 also showed that 2 in 3 Americans say they favor term limits or a mandatory retirement age for Supreme Court justices.

In a national survey of 1,202 registered voters from March 20 to 24, 2024 from Hart Research on behalf of Stand Up America, a non-profit focused on progressive issues found 53% of voters favor Congress taking action to reform the Supreme Court and the way it operates. Of those polled, 64% want 18-year term limits, compared to 24% who rejected that idea. 

“Support for term limits crosses both partisan and ideological lines (including 51% of both Republicans and conservatives), and it encompasses a large majority in every region of the country,” Hart wrote. 

Even more voters, 74% want to see limits for Supreme Court justices, including majorities across party lines, according to a poll done by Data for Progress, a progressive think tank.

Politicians on Supreme Court Reform 

Former President Donald Trump, who is also the Republican nominee in the 2024 election, immediately slammed Biden’s reported court reform proposals on his social media site Truth Social.

“The Democrats are attempting to interfere in the presidential election, and destroy our justice system by attacking their political opponent, me, and our honorable Supreme Court,” Trump, who appointed three Supreme Court justices, said.

Other lawmakers have voiced support in the past for the types of reforms Biden is weighing.

Last year, Reps. Ro Khanna of California and Virginia’s Don Beyer, both Democrats, took another crack at introducing The Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act after the Supreme Court blocked the Biden Administration’s Student Debt Relief Plan.

“Our Founding Fathers intended for lifetime appointments to ensure impartiality,” Khanna said in a statement. “The decision today demonstrates how justices have become partisan and out of step with the American public.”

Beyer, meanwhile, criticized “partisan” decisions that came down by the Supreme Court. 

“I have long supported reforming the Supreme Court to limit terms to end lifetime tenures and ensure the Court remains a fair and impartial arbiter of justice,” he said. 

 What the experts are saying

Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor at Harvard Law School who Biden called after the Supreme Court ruled Trump was entitled to immunity for “official acts,” said “it’s about time” reform happened. 

“Key changes needed include enforceable ethics code, term limits, and a constitutional amendment to end presidential immunity and rein in pardon power,” Tribe wrote on X.

A bipartisan commission that’s a project of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences recommended 18-year term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices to help “move the Court toward a less partisan future, restoring its legitimacy as an independent arbiter of justice” in a report called Our Common Purpose.

Having 18-year terms for Supreme Court Justices “could help realign the Court with the Founders’ vision and reduce the partisan contentiousness of the appointments process,” the commission wrote, per the report.

Tribe told the New York Times Biden’s changes would be difficult to enact, but added this should not stop them from trying. 

“The more it would take, the more urgent it is to begin the process now,” he said. “The difficulty of achieving it should not be overestimated.”

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.