WashingtonThe American president, Joe Biden, wants to reform the functioning of the Supreme Court to prevent the repetition of situations like the ruling on Donald Trump’s partial immunity and wants to include an amendment to the Constitution to eliminate presidential immunity for crimes committed. “We can and must prevent the abuse of presidential power. We can and must restore the public’s faith in the Supreme Court,” he stated this Monday in an article published in Washington Post in which he made his proposal public. He is expected to announce it during an event in Texas this Monday.
Earlier this month, the conservative majority that holds six of the high court’s nine seats handed down a historic ruling granting immunity to all presidents in all “official acts.” Any action that has criminal consequences, if carried out by the president as an official act, will have immunity. The controversial sentence is joined by a series of scandals in which Supreme Court judges have recently been involved, specifically those from the conservative wing.
In the days leading up to Biden’s inauguration as president in January 2021, the American flag was seen hanging upside down at the home of conservative Justice Samuel Alito. The upside-down flag was a symbol many of the attackers carried during the assault on the Capitol on January 6, and was intended to express rejection of the “theft” of the election. Alito denied that the gesture was linked to that symbolism. Likewise, ProPublica uncovered that conservative Justice Thomas Clarence had been accepting lavish gifts from billionaires who have also donated money to the Republican cause.
For all this, Biden has proposed three measures: first, to enact “a constitutional amendment that would make it clear that there is no immunity for crimes committed by a former president during his term”; second, limit the mandates for Supreme Court justices, to reduce “the possibility that a single presidency would radically alter the composition of the court for generations,” and third, create a binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court to avoid cases like Clarence’s.
Without a majority in the lower house of Congress, which is held by Republicans, it is difficult for the proposals to move forward before Biden’s presidency ends. However, his announcement in the middle of the election campaign sends a clear message to voters in the run-up to the November 5 election.
Source: www.ara.cat
