CNN Legal Analyst Torpedoes Biden's SCOTUS Reform 'Wish List'

CNN Chief Supreme Court Analyst Joan Biskupic said Monday that President Joe Biden will not see his U.S. Supreme Court reform agenda enacted.

Biden on Monday proposed a radical reform of the Supreme Court, suggesting term limits for judges, a “binding code of conduct” for ethics and reversing its July principle decision which granted presidents immunity from criminal prosecution for “official acts” they perform during their term of office. Biskupic on “CNN Newsroom” characterized Biden's proposal as a “wish list” and a “policy document,” saying it will never go into effect.

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'It's not going to happen': CNN legal analyst blasts Biden's SCOTUS reform 'wish list' pic.twitter.com/IAu2uYcI0M

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“These are very big proposals; they're pretty much a wish list, too. This is mostly a political document because we're going to take it head on, but it's not going to happen, just so you know,” Biskupic said. “Just because that would be a big thing to pass. First, he wants a constitutional amendment that would essentially reverse the Supreme Court's June decision in the Trump case, giving former President Donald Trump broad immunity from criminal prosecution. It was a case that really surprised a lot of people, including the Biden administration. He wants a constitutional amendment to reverse it. That's a big raise, which would require the approval of 38 states for it. We haven't had a new constitutional amendment since the 90s.”

“I would also like term limits for judges. Right now, as you know, they are appointed for life, and that is in the Constitution that they have lifetime appointments,” he added. “He would like to be appointed for terms of 18 years for a president who, essentially, would have two magistrates each, from the presidential term. This is another one that potentially only needs to be implemented through a constitutional amendment.”

Fox News legal analyst Gregg Jarrett said Monday that there is “zero chance” that Biden could impose term limits on Supreme Court justices, even as he noted that a constitutional amendment “is such a high bar.”

“And the third is what Congress could actually do. And it's an enforceable code of conduct for judges,” Biskupic said. “President Biden has complained not only about the decisions of the judges, but he has also been suspicious of some of the conduct of the judges. For example, taking trips with wealthy interests and not informing them, or we have had some other problems related, for example, to Justice Alito, but those are the ones that fall into another category of behavior outside the bench. The first two we get are the actual decisions of the court.”

Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, backed Biden's proposals for the Supreme Court in a statement Monday.

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