President Joe Biden is expected to announce a slate of reform proposals for the United States Supreme Court.
The courts have recently come under criticism for being biased, unaccountable, and there have been claims the court has become corrupted. Biden is reportedly going to seek to impose term limits and an enforceable code of ethics on all justices.
Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge and Harvard Law School lecturer, told KNX News in her view, the court has become too powerful and political. Gertner sat on the Supreme Court Reform Commission put together by Biden’s administration when he first took office.
“I very much believe in term limits. I believe in expanding the court and the no-brainer in this discussion, for anyone, should be an enforceable code of ethics,” Gertner said. “One of the things that the White House Commission did was to look at other countries, and other countries that have high courts with enforceable codes of ethics, with other judges sitting on the ethical foibles of the existing judges. Other courts do it.”
She said it’s “stunning” how the U.S. doesn’t have an enforceable code of ethics.
“We have the most powerful Supreme Court of all Western democracies, and in one sense, the least accountable, and we should do something about it,” Gertner explained.
She acknowledged getting any kind of reform enacted will be a massive uphill battle, but Gertner insists it’s a conversation worth having.
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“All I know is we have to begin. I mean, I am sick and tired of people saying we are not likely to succeed in this effort, and therefore we don't try,” she said.
“Biden should propose legislation, legislation should get a hearing,” Gertner said.
The New York Times reported Biden is considering a call for a constitutional amendment that would limit the broad immunity the Supreme Court’s majority currently put in place in June.
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