And this is not at all strange. It is the modality of left-wing regimes in the world, to seize executive, legislative and judicial power, as happened in Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and as Rafael Correa, Cristina Fernández and Evo Morales tried in Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia, respectively.
Now the left is including among its “requests” that Congress establish term limits and an enforceable code of ethics for the court’s nine judges. It is also pressuring legislators to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity. All because the rulings of the country’s highest judicial authority do not favor them.
The White House outlined the contours of the Biden administration’s judicial proposal, which has little chance of passing a closely divided Congress less than 100 days before the November election.
Trump has criticized judicial reform as a desperate attempt by Democrats to “referee” and control everything.
“The Democrats are attempting to interfere in the Presidential Election and destroy our system of justice by attacking their Political Opponent, (me) and our Honorable Supreme Court. We must fight for our Fair and Independent Courts and protect our Country,” Trump posted on his Truth Social site this month.
The presumptive Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, is one of those who has criticized the Court’s alleged impartiality and claims that it has been called into question following recent decisions.
Biden’s final days
The White House is trying to take advantage of Biden’s last days in power and try to impose laws, as was done in the first two weeks of his mandate when more than 70 executive orders were signed in an unusual way, unprecedented in US history.
But what is not convenient for the left must be changed. That is their anti-democratic and traditional formula since they have come to the White House in the last 20 years, from Bill Clinton, Obama and Joe Biden, who is nothing more than an extension of his predecessor.
“I have great respect for our institutions and the separation of powers,” Biden argues in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday. “What is happening now is not normal and undermines public confidence in the Court’s decisions, including those affecting personal liberties. We are now at a breaking point.”
Conservatives feel the same way about what is happening in American politics today, with visible attacks on everything that conservatism represents and the traditional values on which this nation was founded.
Biden calls for eliminating lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. He says Congress should pass legislation to set up a system in which the sitting president appoints a justice every two years to serve 18 years on the court. He argues that term limits would help ensure that the court’s membership changes with some regularity and add a measure of predictability to the nomination process.
But what the far left really wants is to transform the essence of the Supreme Court. They have also asked to change the Constitution, in the best style of authoritarian regimes.
Attack on conservative judges
Biden is also calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court’s recent landmark immunity ruling that found former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution.
The first three judges who would potentially be affected by term limits are right-wing. And that is precisely the main objective.
Justice Clarence Thomas has been on the court for nearly 33 years. Chief Justice John Roberts has served for 19 years, and Justice Samuel Alito for 18.
The court’s justices served an average of 17 years from its founding until 1970, said Gabe Roth, executive director of the group Fix the Court. Since 1970, the average has been about 28 years. Both conservative and liberal politicians have supported term limits.
However, when it comes to the Supreme Court, implementing a mechanism to enforce the code of ethics is not as simple as it seems.
The attorney general has always had the authority to sanction violations of financial disclosure and gift rules, but has apparently never used that power against federal judges, said Stephen Gillers, a legal ethics expert at New York University School of Law.
The body that oversees lower court judges, on the other hand, is headed by Roberts, “who may be reluctant to use any powers the conference has against his colleagues,” Gillers wrote in an email.
The last time Congress ratified an amendment to the Constitution was 32 years ago. The 27th Amendment, ratified in 1992, states that Congress can pass a bill changing the pay of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, but such a change cannot take effect until after the House elections are held next November.
Source: With information from AFP.
