OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
When Democrats say we need to respect our institutions, it appears that only applies to the institutions that give them what they want.
The same respect has not been shown for the conservative majority Supreme Court that they attack at every opportunity. And now Senate Majority Leader and New York Sen. Charles Schumer has made a terrifying promise if his Party is in charge after the elections.
“The Supreme Court has become a morass, both ethically and substantively,” he said to NBC News. “We’re going to look at everything. There are lots of proposals.”
The Senate Majority Leader said that if his Party controls the White House and both Houses of Congress massive changes would come to the court.
“Without the support of Republicans, Democrats’ plans to implement an enforceable ethics code mandating justices disclose all gifts and financial contributions, as well as strict rules for recusing themselves from cases, are almost impossible to implement,” The Washington Examiner reported.
“Schumer said Democrats also plan to pursue President Joe Biden’s stated goal of instituting 18-year term limits for justices, as well as an end to ‘forum shopping,’ a practice in which litigants choose to have their cases heard before friendly judges in specific divisions,” the report said.
“The majority leader introduced a bill on Thursday called the ‘No Kings Act’ to roll back the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. If successful, this would mean that a president would not be immune from prosecution for ‘official acts,’” it said.
The Senator Majority Leader showed how bitter he was that the court was conservative — as if he would not approve if Democrats had a 6 – 3 majority.
“They [Republicans] spent three decades trying to take over the courts,” he said. “They’ve achieved it.”
Republicans criticized President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s long-term proposal on Monday to reshape the Supreme Court as a way to politicize the judicial system.
“President Biden and I are calling on Congress to pass important reforms – from imposing term limits for Justices’ active service, to requiring Justices to comply with binding ethics rules just like every other federal judge. These popular reforms will help to restore confidence in the Court, strengthen our democracy, and ensure no one is above the law,” Harris said in a statement.
“The proposals include an 18-year term limit and requirements that justices disclose gifts, avoid political activity, and recuse themselves over conflicts of interest. They also pitched a constitutional amendment that would rescind the Supreme Court’s July finding that presidents have presumed immunity for the core functions of their office,” the New York Post reported.
Entering her second week as the presumed Democratic presidential nominee, Harris acknowledged that she contributed to the plan’s formulation but did not host any public events to promote it.
“I’ve made clear how I feel about Kamala and she’s been an incredible partner to me and a champion of surprise throughout her career,” Biden said in his speech.
“And she’ll continue to be an inspiring leader and project the very idea of America — the very idea that we’re all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives.”
Nevertheless, Democrats are hoping that it will help concentrate voters as they weigh their options in a close election. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is expected to be the Democratic nominee and has attempted to portray her fight against Republican former President Donald Trump as “a choice between freedom and chaos,” claimed that previous rulings have called into question the court’s impartiality.
The court has a 6-3 conservative majority, and the White House is trying to capitalize on the mounting anger among Democrats over the court’s rulings that reversed long-standing precedents on federal regulatory authority and abortion rights.
