Unburdened by what has been, President Joe Biden used the time freed up from having to campaign to unveil his Supreme Court “reform.” This proposal comes in three parts: (1) term limits, (2) a new ethics code, and (3) reversing the end-of-term ruling that grants presidents immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. At a time when public confidence in the high court has dropped a bit, the outgoing president figures he can make this plan part of his legacy, as well as help his anointed successor, Vice President Kamala Harris, beat former President Donald Trump in November.
It’s not a terrible political calculation, although the decrease in public confidence in the court is almost entirely a result of a steep decline among Democrats. The court’s overall job approval is still higher than all other governmental institutions save the military and police — and much higher than that of the media whence so much criticism originates. Indeed, so much of the “debate” over the Supreme Court is disingenuous, driven by people who don’t like its conservative shift and so (1) wring their hands and cry crocodile tears about the court’s “legitimacy” before (2) calling for “reforms” to “restore” that legitimacy by hobbling the court. Online, this is known as “concern trolling.”
Continue reading the entire piece here at The Washington Examiner (paywall)
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Ilya Shapiro is a senior fellow and director of Constitutional Studies at the Manhattan Institute. Follow him on Twitter here.
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