By Ashley Murray | AZ Mirror
WASHINGTON — Before he leaves the Oval Office in January, President Joe Biden wants to see Congress take up a constitutional amendment restoring criminal liability for U.S. presidents in response to the recent Supreme Court decision granting the chief executive broad immunity.
Biden announced the “Not Above the Law Amendment” Monday along with endorsing other changes for the nation’s highest bench, potentially setting the tone and focus for the Democrat’s final months in office after he exited the 2024 race in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.
The proposal, released by the White House without text and detailed by Biden in a Washington Post op-ed, comes as public trust in the high court flags after recent ethics scandals and the overturning of Roe v. Wade that bucked popular opinion on abortion.
Biden is urging Congress to pass 18-year term limits for justices, with a president appointing a new justice every two years, and to approve enforceable conduct and ethics rules that would require disclosure of gifts, bar public political activity and ensure recusal from cases where a justice or their spouse has a financial or political stake.
