The Biden Court

The cover of the New Yorker this week features a wonderful rendering of the Supreme Court, but with a twist — all six of the conservative justices bear President Trump’s face. How ironical that the same week that magazine found its way into mailboxes, President Biden disclosed his plans to take a wrecking ball to the highest court in the land via desperate proposals that double as a left-wing wish list for a court brought to heel.Those plans were reportedly shared on a phone call with the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The plans surfaced days after the Democratic Party’s left flank swung behind the beleaguered president. The Washington Post explains that liberal lawmakers are trading political cover for support for their agenda. The proposals come days after Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez filed a bill of impeachment against two of its justices.Mr. Biden, according to the Washington Post, told the progressive caucus that he is “about to come out with a major initiative on limiting the court.” He added that he has “been working with constitutional scholars for the last three months.” One of the sages Mr. Biden consulted, the liberal lion Laurence Tribe of Harvard, told the Times that Mr. Biden rang him twice in the wake of the Nine’s immunity decision in Trump v. United States.Among the schemes reportedly being considered by Mr. Biden are term limits for Supreme Court justices, an enforceable — by whom, it is not clear — ethics code, and a constitutional amendment that would curtail presidential immunity. The low chances of success for these faux reforms, though, do not negate the gall of proposing a renovation of the court during an election season — and after a term in which the left took a licking. Attacks on the high court have become de rigueur for Democrats. In addition to the bills by Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, two senators, Sheldon Whitehouse and Dick Durbin, have sought to haul Chief Justice Roberts in for questioning. The solons also want the Chief to order Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas — the ones AOC seeks to remove — to recuse themselves from cases related to January 6. The Chief lacks such authority and has refused.These columns have reprised these points before. The key problem with suggesting that the Chief Justice — or any combination of Justices — have the power to force a recusal is the danger that it could be used by the Chief Justice or a faction of justices to try to tilt the outcome of a case. That’s why each justice is permitted to decide for him- or herself whether to step aside from a given case. Or whether to carry out the duty to hear a case despite a tumult.The problem with term limits is that the Constitution ordains that “Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.” So Mr. Biden’s term limits plot would require amending the national parchment. The problem with packing the court — increasing the number of justices — is that it proved a political disaster and was rejected when Mr. Biden’s hero, FDR, tried it in 1937 after the New Deal was struck down.In the current démarche, Mr. Biden appears to be driven by his fury over the court’s rulings in respect of guns, abortion, presidential immunity, and the deference owed administrative agencies, among other matters recently ruled on by the Court. Democrats, bruised by reversals, are moving to change the rules of the game. If the president presses these proposals, he’d be overruling the work of a recent commission on the court, convened by Mr. Biden himself. That commission declined to get behind the very proposals that the president now champions. What’s changed, besides the president’s parlous political position and the looming election? It looks to us that he needs a high grade issue on which to demagogue during the home stretch of the current election. No doubt the New Yorker’s cover artist is preparing for the next cover a cartoon of Mr. Biden wagging his finger at the Framers of the Constitution.

The Biden Court

More from the New York Sun

‘Watch What I Do,’ Fetterman Says

What Is JD Vance Doing?

Mullin Promises Voter Fraud Crackdown After Trump’s National Address

More from the New York Sun

‘Watch What I Do,’ Fetterman Says

What Is JD Vance Doing?

Mullin Promises Voter Fraud Crackdown After Trump’s National Address

Hegseth Orders ‘Lessons Learned’ Review of Biden-Era Covid Vaccine Mandate

Marco Rubio’s Moment

Arizona Woman Sues Food Delivery Robot Company for Repeatedly Striking and Injuring Her

The Value of the Fedora in the Trucker Hat Era

United Airlines Backs Off From Allowing Free Ticket Changes for Customers Wanting To Avoid Trump Airport