Biden unveils plans to overhaul Supreme Court including no immunity for ex-presidents for crimes in office

President Joe Biden has unveiled his plans to overhaul the Supreme Court including term limits for justices, a binding ethics code and no immunity for former presidents for crimes committed while in office – in response to a string of controversial rulings andscandals plaguing the powerful, conservative-heavy court.

The president released his three-pronged proposal on Monday morning, saying that the “bold plan” is necessary to “restore trust and accountability” in the nation’s highest court at a time when it is “mired in a crisis of ethics”.

In the proposal, Biden calls for term limits on Supreme Court justices – putting forward a system where the president would appoint a justice every two years to spend 18 years on the court. Biden points out that Congress approved term limits for the presidency over 75 years ago but that nothing similar exists for the most powerful court in the nation.

The second proposal is for a “common sense” binding, enforceable code of conduct and ethics rules where justices must disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity, and recuse themselves from cases where they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest.

Thirdly, Biden is proposing a constitutional amendment declaring that presidents do not have immunity from criminal prosecution for any crimes committed while in office.

This No One Is Above the Law Amendment comes directly in response to the court’s sweeping ruling that gave Donald Trump immunity from prosecution for so-called “official acts” taken while in office.

In an op-ed for The Washington Post laying out his proposal, Biden hit out at the presidential immunity ruling warning that it means “there are virtually no limits on what a president can do”.

“Th