Schumer vows Supreme Court reform will be 'a very big priority' if Democrats win election

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has big plans for the Supreme Court and federal judiciary if Democrats win the 2024 elections, from imposing ethical standards and preventing litigants from “shopping” for friendly judges to legislatively reversing its rulings on abortion and presidential immunity.

“It’s a very big priority,” Schumer, D-N.Y. told NBC News in an interview Thursday before the Senate left for a five-week summer recess. “I feel very strongly for the sake of the republic, we need reform in the courts.”

Schumer said Republicans have devised a “brilliant but destructive” scheme to get the courts to enact a “hard right” agenda for which they can’t find public support. “They spent three decades trying to take over the courts,” he said. “They’ve achieved it.”

Democrats have introduced a series of proposals for the Supreme Court and judiciary, some with the Biden administration’s support. One would impose a binding code of ethics, with disclosure and recusal rules, for justices, which Democrats tried to pass this year after ProPublica reported on undisclosed gifts to Justice Clarence Thomas from a wealthy GOP donor. Another would slap 18-year term limits on justices. A third would end “forum shopping,” where savvy litigants can land major cases before friendly judges in specific divisions. The “No Kings Act,” unveiled by Schumer on Thursday, would reverse the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling — which decided that presidents are immune from prosecution for some “official acts” — and rein in the court’s ability to determine who criminal laws are applied to. And the “Women’s Health Protection Act” would restore federal abortion rights, reversing the court’s 2022 decision that overturned Roe