U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch on Sunday issued a warning about President Joe Biden’s plans to reform the court in his final months in office, saying: “Be careful.”
Biden withdrew from the 2024 presidential race on July 21 and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as she is set to face former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, in the November general election.
In late March, Biden released a new three-part plan to reform the U.S. Supreme Court. It includes term limits for justices, a constitutional amendment to block the court’s ruling on presidential immunity, and a binding code of ethics for the judiciary. Like all federal judges, Supreme Court justices are appointed to the court for life.
“The United States is the only major constitutional democracy that provides life terms to its Supreme Court justices,” a White House fact sheet reads. “Term limits would help ensure that the composition of the Court changes with some regularity, make the timing of appointments to the Court more predictable and less arbitrary, and reduce the risk that a single presidency would exert undue influence on future generations.”
The White House has said Biden would support a reform in which presidents would nominate justices every two years and justices would spend only 18 years of active service on the court — a timetable that fits what many Supreme Court critics have called for.
During an interview on Fox News Sunday, Host Shannon Bream discussed Biden’s reform and asked Gorsuch, a conservative justice, “What does the Court think about potential changes to term limits?”
In response, Gorsuch said he would not wade into what is now a political issue in a presidential election year.
Gorsuch added: “I have one more thought. Judicial independence… what does that mean to you as an American? It means that when you’re unpopular, you can get a fair hearing under the law and the Constitution. If you’re in the majority, you don’t need judges and juries to hear you and protect your rights, you’re popular. That independence is there for when the spotlight is on you. When the government is coming after you. And don’t you want a fiercely independent judge and a jury of your peers to make those decisions? Isn’t that your right as an American? So I just say be careful.”
Newsweek contacted the White House by email and the Supreme Court through an online form for comment.
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Biden’s push to reform the Supreme Court comes after conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, the court’s longest-serving member, has been criticized for accepting undisclosed gifts and being perceived as biased in cases involving Trump and Thomas’ wealthy benefactors. Additionally, Samuel Alito has recently come under fire for a photo of an upside-down American flag flying outside his home days before Biden’s inauguration and days after the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot.
Thomas defended the relationship between the donor of the undisclosed gifts, as he had previously said in a statement, referring to a 2019 trip, which involved flying to Indonesia on the donor’s private jet, that he had been “informed that this type of personal hospitality from close friends, who had no matters before the Court, was not reportable.”
In a statement previously emailed to The New York TimesAlito placed all responsibility for the installation of the inverted American flag, a symbol often referred to as “Stop the Steal” and used by Trump supporters, on his wife, Martha-Ann Alito. The justice wrote that he “had no involvement in the installation of the flag” and that it was “briefly placed by Ms. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally offensive language on yard signs.”
Both justices have refused to recuse themselves from Trump-related cases, prompting New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to file impeachment proceedings against them last month. However, the impeachment attempt is unlikely to succeed in the Republican-controlled House.
Additionally, the conservative majority, made up of three justices appointed by Trump, has also faced backlash after a series of controversial decisions issued just before its term ended in July.
“These scandals involving the justices have led the public to question the fairness and independence of the Court, which are essential to carrying out its mission of equality before the law,” Biden said at an event commemorating the Civil Rights Act last month.
Biden is also reportedly considering supporting a constitutional amendment that would eliminate blanket immunity for presidents and other senior officials, a move to reverse the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on July 1 that granted broad presidential immunity in a ruling related to Trump’s election interference case. He has pleaded not guilty in that case.
Although the Supreme Court adopted its first code of conduct in November 2023, it was immediately criticized for lacking enforcement resources.
However, Biden’s effort comes with six months left in office and is unlikely to win approval with less than 100 days until Election Day, but experts say it is an effort that could become a key issue in the campaign.
Legal analyst and senior legal columnist at The Los Angeles TimesHarry Litman wrote in an op-ed published Tuesday that Biden’s proposals were more than “just a political gesture” in the final 100 days of the election.
“Biden and the Democrats are also playing the long game, including making the Supreme Court a campaign issue,” he wrote. “If they win control of both houses and the White House, they can present their election as a mandate for substantial reform.”
