Justice Neil Gorsuch gives two-word warning to Biden over Supreme Court reforms

Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch has given Joe Biden a terse warning over the president’s plans to shake up the structure of the Supreme Court.

“I just say: Be careful,” Gorsuch told Fox News Sunday.

The justice, appointed by Donald Trump, did not weigh in directly about Biden’s proposed term limits and other reforms for the court, saying it would not be “helpful” during an election year, but emphasized how important it is for the high court to remain independent.

“If you’re in the majority, you don’t need judges and juries, to hear you, to protect your rights, if you’re popular,” Gorsuch added in the interview. “It’s there for the moments when the spotlight’s on you — when the government’s coming after you. And don’t you want a ferociously independent judge and a jury of your peers to make those decisions?”

In a separate interview with The New York Times, Gorsuch again demurred from talking about the Biden plan but suggested he won’t stay on the high court forever.

 “I look forward to a few years of fly fishing,” he said.

Last week, Biden unveiled a plan to reform the Supreme Court, which has suffered from record-low approval ratings and a string of leaks and ethics scandals in recent years.

The president has called for legislation that would create a new system ending Supreme Court justices’ lifetime appointments, and replacing them with justices who are appointed every two years to serve an 18-year term.

Biden also called for a binding code of ethics, an expansion on an internal code of ethics the court adopted last year, as well as an amendment stripping presidents of criminal immunity, a response to a July decision in a case about the Trump plot to overturn the 2020 election granting him immunity for “official”