President Biden is finalizing plans to endorse major changes to the Supreme Court in the coming weeks, including proposals for legislation to establish term limits for the justices and an enforceable ethics code, according to two people briefed on the plans.

He is also weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad immunity for presidents and other constitutional officeholders, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.

The announcement would mark a major shift for Biden, a former chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who has long resisted calls to reform the high court. The potential changes come in response to growing outrage among his supporters about recent ethics scandals surrounding Justice Clarence Thomas and decisions by the new court majority that have changed legal precedent on issues including abortion and federal regulatory powers.

  • Boddhisatva@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    How is he going to get anything through the Republican house or even the Senate without a Democratic super majority?

    • teft@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Proposing the changes could excite the voters enough to give him control of both chambers. Even announcing it might shift the needle for some fence sitters.

      • Fire Witch@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        That’s exactly what we need right now. There are almost no undecided voters left, just unmotivated voters. We need something to energize voters who have been feeling ignored by the DNC, at best.

        • Furbag@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Couldn’t have said it better myself. This is red meat for the base, but that’s what we need right now after weeks of feeling deflated.

      • EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        How many times have the DNC lead people to the polls with big promises, then half way, if at all, deliver? Ive been able to vote since Reagan and its been the same thing every election. This is stuff he should have tried to tackle his first or second year. We are 15 seconds to the end of the fourth quarter and hes trying to throw a Hail Mary in the wrong direction

        • doctordevice@lemmy.ca
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          2 months ago

          The downvotes on you are infuriating. That’s just people sticking their heads in the sand. Democrats always whip out the carrot right before an election. Then let it rot afterwards.

          Still waiting on that student loan debt memo, Biden. I’d really like to know why you couldn’t even try to do anything on your 2020 promise until right before the 2022 midterms.

          • timbuck2themoon@sh.itjust.works
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            2 months ago

            Oh fuck off. He did as much as he could by executive order that wasn’t struck down.

            People like you are infuriating. How about you fucking vote and get others to vote so he can have a congressional mandate to do all this?

            • doctordevice@lemmy.ca
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              2 months ago

              I will vote. But you pretending like Biden wasn’t blatantly double-dipping on a campaign promise doesn’t help.

              I voted for him in 2020 based on his promises, and all I got was a knife held over me for two years until it was politically expedient for him to bother even trying. He could have already been on a new attempt by the midterms, they had that memo April 2021. They promised to release it. They never did, and it got struck down like we all thought it would.

              It’s the same story with every fucking policy. The Democrats waste time twiddling their thumbs until they think they can squeeze more political points out of it, they don’t care about actually doing anything.

              This Supreme Court reform is gonna be the same thing. They’re going to milk this through 2024 but never actually do anything, and then sit on it until 2026 before even trying. Meanwhile he could have done this years ago and we could have already moved past whatever BS the Republicans will use to stop it and started on the next plan.

              I’m so fucking tired of empty promises.

    • dhork@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It would involve winning the Presidency and both houses of Congress in the next election, and then nuking the Filibuster.

      • adarza@lemmy.ca
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        2 months ago

        keeping republicans from retaining the house and taking the senate and white house is pretty much mandatory at this point.

      • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        So it’s a completely empty promise.

        Democrats will never nuke the filibuster. Ever. It’s what lets them pretend their hands are tied when they kill progressive legislation they ran on but never had any intention of ever implementing.

        They would rather lose Democracy forever than abandon the relic of Jim Crow they use for its intended purpose.

      • EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml
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        2 months ago

        Theyve had a shit ton of opportunities to kill the filibuster, but dont want to lose that rotating villain.

      • Crow_Thief@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        The thing he already chose not to do. If it cant be done by Biden unilaterally at this point, it cant be done by him at all.

        • very_well_lost@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Manchin and Sinema voted against abolishing the filibuster; Biden was in favor of removing he, he just didn’t have the votes.

          • anticolonialist@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            And what were the calls to primary the people that would not vote in favor of it in the midterms? That’s how people hold their politicians accountable. But VBNMW people never hold their politicians accountable that’s why the politicians keep getting worse because they don’t have to work in favor of their votes, because they’re going to get them regardless of what they do, no matter how shitty the policy no matter how shitty the rhetoric, the loyalists will stay in line.

    • Lung@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Well, he’s immune now so clearly he should just assassinate anyone who is in opposition /s

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      2 months ago

      Even if it doesn’t pass the house or senate, it shows that he’s trying something and isn’t just giving up.

  • Semi-Hemi-Lemmygod@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    He is also weighing whether to call for a constitutional amendment to eliminate broad immunity for presidents

    “On the one hand, a president shouldn’t be allowed to order Seal Team 6 to kill someone. On the other hand, my neighbor’s dog keeps shitting in my yard.”

    How is this a question?

    • Billiam@lemmy.world
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      You need 75% of the states to ratify an amendment. Even if Biden wins the election, you think the GOP ruled state legislatures will voluntarily restrict the powers of the next GOP president? The most threatening part of Project 2025 is that it only requires the next Republican President. They’ll bet on Biden not using those powers the Supreme Court invented so that the next Republican President will.

  • jaybone@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Do republicans ever pass any legislation supported by democrats anymore? What’s the last bill that was passed?

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    I’m so fucking glad we’ve got a president who can at least handle this moment responsibly. Biden may not be everything people want but he’s not seizing this moment to forward his own personal agenda. I think he is pretty clearly trying to find a more ethical path forward. I don’t think we can say that about all of our past presidents.

    • Krono@lemmy.today
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      If Joe Biden wanted to suddenly find an ethical path, he should start with Gaza.

      This proposal is not a sign of newfound morality, it is red meat to his base that are desperate for any signs of life. It’s easy to make promises like this when you never have to fulfill them.

      • Pacattack57@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Unfortunately the echo chamber is here in full force. You are 100% right. All these promises are dead in the water with the current house/senate. There is virtually a 0% chance any of these promises get fulfilled.

        And you are right about Israel as well. Why he is allowing a genocide to take place with American money and weapons is beyond me.

  • RubberDuck@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    And this is why you should work to enshrine a good thing when it’s still good. Because if you don’t and it gets corrupted, you’re too late.

    Resisting stuff like term limits and ethics codes makes no sense.

  • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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    2 months ago

    The way he’s making sweeping promises gives the impression that he’s confident that he’ll never be in a position to carry them out.

  • soratoyuki@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Three and a half years later.

    Edit: genuinely curious why the downvotes? The left has been calling for the since day one, back when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. But he’s making it an issue now, when he doesn’t have control of the House, just in time for Trump to possibly win and actually pull it out?

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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    2 months ago

    Biden LITERALLY CAN DO ANYTHING HE WANTS as long as it’s a Presidential Act! I’m GLAD the Democratic Nominee is SUCH a Fearless Leader!