Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch issued a stark warning to Joe Biden after the president recently introduced extreme reforms to the nation’s highest court.
Last week, Biden called for sweeping reforms to the Supreme Court, including term limits, a binding code of conduct for its nine justices and a constitutional amendment that would limit presidential immunity.
In an interview to promote his new book, Gorsuch urged the president to be cautious in how he moves forward because the judiciary is meant to be an independent check on Biden’s office.
“It’s there for those moments when the spotlight is on you, when the government is after you. And you don’t want a fiercely independent judge and a jury of your peers making those decisions? Isn’t that your right as an American?” Gorsuch asked.
The Trump-appointed judge added: “That’s why I just say to you: be careful.”
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch issued a stark warning to Joe Biden after the president recently introduced extreme reforms to the nation’s highest court.
Gorsuch, part of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 Republican majority, has also expressed concern that Americans lack appreciation for what the court stands for.
“I’m not saying there aren’t ways to improve what we have. I’m just saying that we’ve been given something very special. The American judicial system is the envy of the world,” he said.
Gorsuch is currently promoting his new book, Over Ruled: The Human Toll of Too Much Law.
“If there are not enough laws, we are not safe and our freedoms are not protected. But if there are too many laws, those very things are actually undermined.”
The 56-year-old justice was the first of three Supreme Court nominees by Trump, and they have combined to anchor a conservative majority that has overturned Roe v. Wade, ended affirmative action in college admissions, expanded gun rights and slashed environmental regulations targeting climate change as well as air and water pollution more broadly.
Biden, citing “recent ethics scandals” involving judges and high court rulings that “overturned long-standing legal precedents protecting fundamental rights,” has called on Congress to pass three major reforms in an attempt to “restore trust and accountability” in America’s democratic institutions.
Last week, the White House detailed the contours of Biden’s judiciary proposal, noting how the Democrat believes “no one, not the president or the Supreme Court, is above the law.”
The president will officially propose the changes today during a speech in Austin, Texas, however his proposals appear have little chance of being approved by a deeply divided group Congress With less than 100 days to go Choice Day.
Last week, Biden called for sweeping reforms to the Supreme Court, including term limits, a binding code of conduct for its nine justices and a constitutional amendment that would limit presidential immunity.
In an interview to promote his new book, Gorsuch urged the president to be cautious in how he moves forward because the judiciary is supposed to be an independent check on Biden’s office.
Nonetheless, Democrats hope Biden’s proposal will help focus voters’ attention as they consider their options in the hotly contested presidential election.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has sought to frame her race against former Republican President Donald Trump as “a choice between freedom and chaos.”
Biden calls for eliminating lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. He says Congress should pass legislation to establish a system in which the sitting president appoints a justice every two years to serve 18 years.
He argues that term limits would help ensure that court members turn over with some regularity and would add a measure of predictability to the nomination process.
He also wants Congress to pass legislation establishing an ethics code for judges that would require them to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activities and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.
Biden has also urged Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s recent landmark immunity ruling that found former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution.
This comes after the Supreme Court ruled in July that Trump cannot be prosecuted for actions that were within his constitutional powers as president in a landmark decision that for the first time recognizes any form of presidential immunity from prosecution..
The decision extended the delay in Washington’s criminal case against Trump on charges of conspiring to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat and all but ended prospects that the former president could stand trial before the November election.
Biden’s push for reforms comes a week after Biden ended his reelection bid and endorsed Harris to face Republican presidential nominee Trump in November.
It also follows the Supreme Court’s ruling that there is no constitutional right to abortion and other decisions that blocked Biden’s agenda on immigration, student loans, vaccine mandates and climate change.