Biden proposed an enforceable ethics code and term limits for the Supreme Court. How would those work?

Below you can read how the ideas work and what the possible stumbling blocks are:

Polls show broad support among Americans for limiting the terms of justices on the nation’s Supreme Court.

A July 2022 poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 67% of Americans support a proposal to allow judges to serve a specific number of years, rather than life in prison. This was supported by 82% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans.

Biden’s proposal would limit justices’ terms to 18 years, a move he said would make appointments more predictable and less arbitrary and reduce the chance that one president could shape the court for generations.

There’s a big problem: The Constitution gives all federal judges lifetime appointments.

There are ideas about how term limits could be imposed without an amendment, but if such a law were to pass and be challenged in court, the courts would ultimately have a say in the matter.

The Supreme Court had no formal code of conduct until last year, but the justices adopted one after sustained criticism over secret trips and gifts from wealthy benefactors to some justices, including Clarence Thomas.

There is still no means to enforce the law, something Biden calls “common sense.” For example, members of Congress are generally prohibited from accepting gifts worth more than $50.

Anyone can file complaints against other federal judges, who are subject to censure and reprimand. Justice Elena Kagan expressed her support for adding an enforcement mechanism to the Supreme Court’s ethics code in a public appearance last week.

Still, making the Supreme Court’s ethics code enforceable raises difficult questions about how it could be enforced and by whom.

According to Charles Geyh, a law professor at Indiana University and an expert on judicial ethics, the disciplinary process is not intended to directly monitor compliance with the code. They argue that the code is too broadly worded to allow violations to lead to immediate disciplinary action.

It is overseen by the Judicial Conference, which is headed by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Biden is also calling for a constitutional amendment that would limit the Supreme Court’s recent decision granting former President Donald Trump — and all other presidents — broad immunity from criminal prosecution.

The amendment would “make clear that there is no immunity for crimes committed in office by a former president,” Biden wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Post. “We are a nation of laws — not kings or dictators.”

Constitutional amendments, however, have even higher thresholds than new laws. The proposal must receive support from two-thirds of both the House and Senate and then be ratified by three-quarters of state legislatures.

No new amendments have been adopted for over 30 years.

Biden, a former chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has long resisted calls to reform the Supreme Court.

In 2021, he fulfilled a campaign promise by creating a commission to study possible changes to the court. The commission was not charged with making recommendations and warned that excessive change could potentially undermine democracy.

There has been little movement on the issue until the latest proposals, which come amid growing outrage among Democrats over Supreme Court rulings that overturned landmark decisions on abortion rights and federal regulatory powers.

Even though Biden’s proposals are unlikely to be adopted, the ideas could still grab voters’ attention in a close presidential election.

Conservative activist Leonard Leo criticized Biden’s proposals in a statement: “This is about Democrats destroying a court they disagree with.”