What A Day: Layman's term limits | Crooked Media
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What A Day: Layman's term limits

The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, D.C., July 29, 2024. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)

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The U.S. Supreme Court is seen in Washington, D.C., July 29, 2024. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)

COURT FESTER

President Biden’s big new proposal to reform the Supreme Court puts him squarely in line with widespread criticism of its recent rightward lunge. But his solutions, popular as they may be, hardly look easy to implement.

  • Biden unveiled three big ideas aimed at taking the high court down a notch on Monday. He called for 18-year term limits for justices, a binding code of ethics, and finally, a constitutional amendment declaring former presidents aren’t immune from criminal prosecution. That last one is a dig aimed straight at the court’s notorious recent ruling declaring disgraced former President Trump, and all presidents, largely above criminal law. “I support a system in which the president would appoint a justice every two years to spend 18 years in active service on the Supreme Court,” Biden wrote in an OpEd in the Washington Post.
  • Biden’s plan looks like good politics in an election year when many people say they’re distressed about where the court is being taken by the right-wing nominees of disgraced former President Trump. The court’s conservative supermajority has been on a rampage, overturning Roe v Wade, gutting federal agencies’ rule-making power, and more. The court has also been rocked by ethics scandals, primarily centered around Justice Clarence Thomas’ insatiable urge to hang out with billionaires in secret. Six-in-ten Americans now disapprove of the court, according to one recent poll. A similar number supports putting term limits.
  • Little wonder, then, that Vice President Kamala Harris gave her blessing to Biden’s ideas. The reforms are needed because “there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court,” Harris said.

The catch is that these proposals will take more than a big Democratic win this November to become reality.

  • Some experts say term limits would require a constitutional amendment — which means support from two-thirds of the House and Senate, along with three-quarters of the states. “I strongly support 18 year term limits for Supreme Court justices, but I believe that this would require a constitutional amendment, especially if applied to current justices,” UC Berkeley Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinsky told the LA Times.
  • The court has no current plans to add an enforcement mechanism to its recently-adopted code of conduct. Progressive Justice Elena Kagan recently expressed support for creating a committee of judges to examine potential violations of the ethics code. But she added that she was really just speaking for herself.

“This is one person’s view, and that’s all it is,” Kagan said.

- JD Vance, attempting to justify his criticism of people without children, after calling them “childless cat ladies.”

NEWS NEWS NEWS

Iowa’s six-week abortion ban took effect today, following a ruling from the Iowa Supreme Court allowing the law to be enforced. The state had previously allowed abortions until up to approximately 22 weeks.

Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) informed the Harris campaign that he will drop out of contention to serve as Dem’s vice presidential nominee, the New York Times reported Monday, citing two people with knowledge of the discussions. Cooper was one of roughly half a dozen Democrats said to be under consideration as Harris’s potential running mate.

Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said that Trump picking “weird” J.D. Vance is “one of the best things he ever did for Democrats.” Vance, for his part, insisted that being called “weird” doesn’t hurt his feelings. Alpha behavior!

In the final 48 hour stretch before Donald Trump tapped J.D. Vance as his No. 2 on the Republican ticket, GOP donors, lawmakers and strategists urged the former president to pick someone else, according to a report from The Washington Post.

Trump agreed to sit for a “victim interview” with the FBI about his failed assassination attempt, the bureau said in a conference call with reporters on Monday.

The Harris campaign is trolling Trump for backing out of the next presidential debate, and assured voters that Harris will be there on the previously-agreed-upon date of September 10th whether Trump shows or not.

Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is pleading with the Supreme Court to dismiss the Georgia election interference case against him, leaning on the controversial Supreme Court ruling that a former president has “immunity” against conviction for crimes committed while in official office.  Thanks again, Supreme Court! Great stuff as always!

Thousands of demonstrators flocked to the streets Monday to protest Venezuela’s incumbent President Nicolás Maduro’s claim that he won the country’s disputed presidential election. Maduro’s opposition also declared victory. “We have serious concerns that the result announced does not reflect the will or the votes of the Venezuelan people,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said

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