White House website praises lifetime Supreme Court appointments as Biden pushes term limits
Biden made a sudden policy shift this week, demanding Congress end lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}President Biden's official White House website continues to praise the lifetime appointments of the Supreme Court, despite his recently announced intentions to alter the system.
In the About section of the website, an informational page about the Judiciary Branch praises the lifetime appointment system as a bulwark against "temporary passions of the public."
"Judges and Justices serve no fixed term — they serve until their death, retirement, or conviction by the Senate," the White House website states. "By design, this insulates them from the temporary passions of the public, and allows them to apply the law with only justice in mind, and not electoral or political concerns."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BIDEN, HARRIS CALL FOR SUPREME COURT TERM LIMITS, CODE OF CONDUCT, LIMITS ON PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY
President Biden boards Air Force One as he departs Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
A White House spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the website's text praising lifetime positions on the Supreme Court is an artifact carried over from former President Trump's administration and "outdated."
"That language is outdated and left over from the Trump Administration’s website. The point of view that presidents should be allowed to commit crimes without legal consequences, or that the Supreme Court can self-police conflicts of interest is outdated and hurting the American people and our Democracy," spokesman Andrew Bates told Fox News Digital.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He continued, "Instead, President Biden agrees with the wide range of Constitutional experts, many of whom are leading conservatives – including retired federal judges who were nominated by Republican presidents, Ronald Reagan’s solicitor general, and officers at the Federalist Society – who know that all of the goals mentioned on that page would be better met by 18-year term limits and a binding code of conduct for Supreme Court justices."
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Supreme Court members, from left, Amy Coney Barrett, Neil M. Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, and Clarence Thomas, Chief Justice John Roberts, and Justices Ketanji Brown Jackson, Samuel A. Alito, Jr., Elena Kagan, and Brett M. Kavanaugh pose in the Justices Conference Room. (Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States via Getty Images)
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris – who is now running at the top of the presidential ticket for Democrats in November – declared support for Supreme Court term limits, ethics rules and a constitutional amendment to limit presidential immunity on Monday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Biden, in an op-ed published in the Washington Post, said he has "great respect for our institutions and separation of powers" but "what is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach."
Biden and the Democratic Party have repeatedly accused the Supreme Court of having been corrupted by originalist and textualist jurists appointed under conservative presidents. These characterizations increased after Trump was given a rare opportunity to appoint three justices in one term – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at Westover High School in Fayetteville, North Carolina. (Allison Joyce/AFP via Getty Images)
The conservative bloc does not always vote together, but Democrats in Congress and in the White House have claimed that the Republican-appointed majority has compromised the integrity of the court.
The move marks a nearly 180-degree pivot for Biden, who had generally bucked plans even from within his own party to make such massive changes to the high court.
Fox News Digital's Anders Hagstrom and Brianna Herlihy contributed to this report.