WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris said Monday that she is jointly proposing alongside President Biden a long-shot plan to remake the Supreme Court — which Republicans denounced as politicizing the legal system.
“President Biden and I are calling on Congress to pass important reforms – from imposing term limits for Justices’ active service, to requiring Justices to comply with binding ethics rules just like every other federal judge. And finally, in our democracy, no one should be above the law. So we must also ensure that no former President has immunity for crimes committed while in the White House.” Harris said in a statement.
“These popular reforms will help to restore confidence in the Court, strengthen our democracy, and ensure no one is above the law.”
The Biden-Harris proposals include an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices and requirements that justices disclose gifts, avoid public political activity and recuse themselves if they or their spouses have conflicts of interest.
Harris, 59, claimed credit for helping formulate the plan — which serves primarily to publicize criticism of conservative justices — as she began her second week as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, following 81-year-old Biden’s decision to abandon his pursuit of a second term.
The reform package breathes a fresh round of coverage into controversies involving conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, on the bench for nearly 33 years. Thomas is married to conservative activist Ginni Thomas and faces Democratic denunciation for accepting free and undisclosed vacations from billionaire Harlan Crow, who had no known business before the court — even though Biden himself has failed to list free vacations on his annual ethics forms.
