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The denouement of an American president’s tenure is known as the “lame duck” phase: due to their imminent departure, they are regarded as having diminished stature and influence. Traditionally, such politicians are frowned on if they try and impose significant changes in their dying days. With typical arrogance, Barack Obama threw all that to the winds at the end of his presidency, enacting a barrage of executive orders and issuing a record number of pardons to convicted felons, from drug criminals to traitors.
Now, Obama’s pulling the strings of his senile puppet, Joe Biden, who’s trying to ram through contentious changes to the US Supreme Court.
President Joe Biden is using his final months in office to push for an aggressive overhaul of the US Supreme Court, calling for fixed term limits for judges, an enforceable code of ethics, and a ban on blanket immunity for presidents.
The left-wing Age is, of course, twisting the facts to suit its narrative, especially on the last point. There is no “blanket immunity” for presidents. In fact, the Court merely upheld 200 years of convention, affirming that presidents are entitled to immunity for actions relating to the core powers of their office, but not for other official acts.
Never let the facts get in the way of a good old lefty whinge, though.
In the past few years alone, the court has overturned federal access to abortion [upheld the Constitution], made it easier to carry guns [upheld the Constitution], ended affirmative action in college admissions [upheld the Constitution] and thwarted Biden’s plan to eliminate student debt for millions of Americans [upheld the Constitution].
How dare they uphold the Constitution and interfere with the left’s right to do as they please...
The US president is also calling for 18-year-term limits for justices, who currently get to sit on the bench for life – a tenure that was originally designed to avoid judges being politically influenced with short-term goals.
Which is kind of rich, considering how leftist Ruth Bader-Ginsburg insisted on clinging to her tenure even when she was further in the grip of the Grim Reaper than Biden himself. But, hey, it’s different when they do it.
And in the face of controversies involving Justice Clarence Thomas (who spent years accepting luxurious gifts from GOP big donors) and Justice Samuel Alito (who recently flew an upside-down flag at his house in apparent solidarity with the Stop the Steal movement), Biden also wants a binding and enforceable code of ethics.
This would bring Supreme Court judges into line with federal judges, who are subject to a disciplinary system in which anyone can file a complaint and have it reviewed.
You just know where this is going: leftists will flood the system with vexatious complaints.
While it’s obvious that Thomas is determined to enjoy the perks of office in an outsized manner, it’s far from clear that it’s an entrenched problem for the rest of the bench. It’s curious, too, that the Age doesn’t mention that, for instance, leftist Obama appointee Justice Elena Kagan accepted more free travel gifts than any other justice. Or that another Obama appointee, Sonia Sotomayor, ranked high on both disclosed and undisclosed gifts, closely followed by Ginsburg.
In fact, Ginsburg received one of the largest single gifts of anyone on the bench: a $1 million prize from a globalist think tank partnered with the Huffington Post and the Washington Post.
But, hey, it’s different when they do it.
Not that Biden has a chance of passing any of it, given that it would require a Constitutional amendment, necessitating two-thirds support of both the House and the Senate or approval by a convention of two-thirds of the states, followed by approval by three-quarters of state legislatures.
But that’s not the point. The point is that, as Donald Trump has long argued, the Democrats are determined to make yet another arm of the state their political lackey.
“It is telling that Democrats want to change the system that has guided our nation since its founding, simply because they disagree with some of the court’s recent decisions,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Jake Schneider, the Republican National Committee’s rapid response director, described the plans as an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.
“Make no mistake: it’s music to Commie Kamala’s ears,” said Jake.
Also make no mistake: this is the latest long game for the left.
