Biden to announce plans to reform US supreme court – report
GuardianJul 18
Biden Calls for Sweeping SCOTUS Reforms
Above: United States Supreme Court justices pose for their official portrait in the East Conference Room of the Supreme Court building on Nov. 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. Image copyright: Chip Somodevilla/Staff/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Pres. Joe Biden on Monday in an opinion essay in The Washington Post called for three reforms to the US Supreme Court (SCOTUS) that he claims would "restore trust and accountability" to the court and democracy in the US.
Biden says recent SCOTUS decisions that granted presidential immunity for actions taken while in office and overturned "settled legal precedents" prompted his calls. He also claimed that several justices are involved in scandals that compromise the "court's fairness and independence."
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Gift-grabbing scandals, especially from conservative justices, have tanked SCOTUS' approval rating. America wants to believe in its highest court again, and these modest, popular proposals — which fall short of expanding the court, as many experts have recommended — would at least put the country on the road to restoring faith in SCOTUS.
Republican narrative
Congress and the executive branch must stay out of the judiciary's business. Democrats only want to change the way SCOTUS operates because recent decisions didn't go their way because the justices who best stick to the proper translation of the Constitution sit in the majority. Making SCOTUS into another partisan body would tear at the foundation of US democracy.