President Joe Biden said he would follow through with "Supreme Court reform" during his speech on Wednesday, The Hill reported. The president addressed the nation from the Oval Office days after quitting his reelection bid.
Biden spoke about his decision to exit the presidential race from behind the resolute desk in the short address. He also laid out his plans for what has now become a lame-duck presidency.
"Over the next six months, I’ll be focused on doing my job as president," Biden said. He listed off many things he would fix that he was also responsible for breaking, but also pledged that he would "call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy."
For decades, the left had zero problems with how the Supreme Court operated. Not so coincidentally, this was also during a time when liberals had the majority in the court.
Now that the court is 6-3 in favor of the conservative judges, Democrats seem to have homed in on perceived flaws in the Supreme Court system that has decided against some of their pet causes. They were outraged that the court overturned the Roe v. Wade decision in 2022.
The left also lost the battle over affirmative action as the court outlawed race-based admissions in higher education. Most recently, the high court found in favor of granting presidential immunity for former President Donald Trump, which may have sealed the deal for Biden.
Until now, Biden has been reluctant to tackle these initiatives because of the danger of politicizing the Supreme Court. However, several media reports state that Biden is ready to make changes, such as imposing an ethics code on justices.
This comes after Justice Clarence Thomas received scrutiny over high-value trips and gifts he received but did not report, which could become the rationale for Biden's change. The president also wants to impose term limits on the justices rather than lifetime appointments.
With Biden officially out of the running, he may be free to do more without worrying about scrutiny as an incumbent running for reelection. This could include the changes to the court and other issues he's promised to tackle in his final months.
Yet, Democrats have more to worry about than just what Biden does before he leaves office. With Harris now his replacement as the new presumptive Democratic nominee, they'll have to convince the American people that she is the person for the job.
To combat these succession woes, the establishment media has begun scrambling to change the narrative surrounding Harris. Fox News reported that the effort includes erasing unflattering news from her past.
One of the most striking examples is deleting a GovTrack report that pegged Harris as the "most liberal" senator in 2019. Like something out of George Orwell's 1984, that page was scrubbed sometime earlier this month, even as recently as the day after Biden left the race.
Whatever Biden does in his last few months can't be as horrible as what he's done with the rest of his term. Unfortunately, it still might backfire for his successor who already faces electoral challenges of her own.
