Biden delivered remarks from the Oval Office outlining his decision not to seek reelection, his first on-camera remarks since making that announcement on Sunday. In addition to explaining why he is ending his candidacy, he listed off his priorities for his remaining time as president.
“And I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform, because this is critical to our democracy,” Biden said.
Multiple outlets have reported that Biden is considering proposals to establish term limits for Supreme Court justices and an enforceable ethics code for those on the high court.
Oh boy, he’ll call for it! Great! Thanks!
In his final months… Not now, but, you know, get ready for it. I guess.
Would have been awesome if he did this at the start when it was obvious where things were headed but they didn’t destroy our government yet, but I’ll take it.
I was hoping for that.
He’s a lame duck now. That means he’s free to pursue policies that will add to his legacy, and without having to give even the tiniest shit about what the establishment and the donor class might think about it.
That’s not entirely true with Kamala being tied to his administration. I still think it would only make her more popular, but his actions aren’t truly lame duck.
Come on Biden. Go to fucking town. Let your legacy be crazy ass fights.
crazy ass-fights
You can tell the repubes were
A. Caught of guard by this and
B. Have no idea how to handle it.
I’m even wondering if the timing was intentional. Right after the RNC convention and they took all the momentum from Trump in one single announcement. Maybe they lined to the donors to pump up the donations right after the announcement to gain more momentum. If so, it was really genius.
I agree in sentiment, but the lame duck doesn’t start until November 6th. And we need to stop normalizing otherwise because the republicans have already weaponized it.
A modern day Cincinnatus, the Supreme Court just made him a consul and he just chose to go back to being a common man for the good of the republic.
If this plays out, he’ll go down in history books as the man who sacrificed himself to save Democracy.
From what I understand Cincinnatus gave up his dictatorship because he just liked to farm, and while he was an effective and generally good leader, he just liked to farm.
But farming? Really? Man of your talents?
Many great leaders want peace and quiet at some point. This resonates with me for sure.
Washington very definitely wanted to get back to Mount Vernon. Jefferson always said he wanted to stay at home, but that was at least partially performative.
It’s a peaceful life.
Who wouldn’t?
Out in the fresh air, soil in your hands, working the land to bring forth food.
Or
Court intrigue, back stabbing (literally sometimes), mountains of paperwork, assholes attacking your country at times. That shit would get old quick.
Don’t be so quick to rush into farming. I went from IT to farming and just spent 3 hours in the ER getting stitched back up, for about the 4th time in 5 years, and I’m probably ahead of most.
It ain’t a safe occupation. I should do something less hazardous like being a cop.
Or a school teacher.
I’m not brave enough for that.
Give it up for Jimmy Carter
But he has no power to do that, right? Congress would have to go along, and the Supreme Court is not gonna just do it themselves.
He can have the CIA assassinate them, and keep it top secret. The Judiciary is it’s own section and without a true act of congress or Constitutional Amendment nothing can change without the Supreme Court going in on it.
That Supreme Court case just set in stone what all Presidents have had for what they did in office. George W. never spent time in jail for war crimes, Reagan never went away for arming paramilitary groups, and Nixon didn’t go to jail for spying on the DNC.
Weird how those guys are all in the same party.
To be fair we could add Obama to the list too.
The constitution does not block Biden’s scotus reform
Yeah. Specifically, Mitch “too close to an election” McConnell would block the confirmation.
Or so I assume. I had to go see if he was still alive, because I hadn’t heard from him in a while. Seems he got booed at the RNC.
He can call for whatever he wants, but with a Republican house and less than 60 votes in the Senate, it goes nowhere.
If I remember right, he called for Marijuana legalization and student loan forgiveness as well.
If I remember right, he called Kim Jong Un and professed his love and admiration of him. Oh, wait… that was Trump.
Not shitting on Biden in that comment, just pointing out that “Calling” for something doesn’t mean shit.
If I understand the supreme court correctly, Biden could just shoot Roberts, Alito and Thomas and call it court reform, right? That makes it an official act?
That is only for very specific people. That part is a secret and they don’t tell you who. But I’m certain Biden isn’t on that list.
I would chance it.
So, to answer seriously: if it’s an explicit presidential power he gets total personal immunity, although the office can still be restricted. If it’s an official act, he’s presumed to have personal immunity unless the prosecutor can argue that there’s no way that not having immunity could get in the way of doing the job of president, and they’re not allowed to use motivation to make the case.
The president isn’t given the explicit power to reform the courts.
He’s given explicit power to command the armed forces, but the rules of the armed forces are decided by Congress.So it’s a question arguing how “the president can’t kill members of the judiciary” doesn’t hinder the power of the executive branch without referencing why the president is killing them.
Biden is allowed to kill Supreme Court justices because he might need to Navy SEAL people for security reasons. Allowing litigation on Biden’s SEAL powers would irreparably restrict Biden’s agency as commander in chief and would literally cause a 9/11
Would it literally? Like hijacked foreign planes flying into buildings? Like invading countries for oil? Literally?
The argument that the Supreme Court made pretty boils down to “if you let the president go to trial for Navy SEALing a Supreme Court Justice, then the chilling effect of potential litigation would make the president too scared to kill Osama Bin Laden. Therefore the president has legal immunity when Navy SEALing Supreme Court justices”.
So yes, the Supreme Court actually believes that litigating a president could literally cause another 9/11.
Yes
I’m horrified to agree that that’s actually a valid argument.
Judicial review of the established presidential power to direct the military to kill, ahem, “designate as a clear and immediate threat”, specific individuals in an emergency to protect the country would legitimately undermine the presidents power to defend the integrity of the nation.
Goddamn was that a stupid fucking ruling.
That’s correct
No need to do it himself. Order assassins to do it as an official act, then immediately pardon them.
Well, he would need a volunteer that way, then he writes them a pardon, because the order is still illegal and they can refuse it, it just doesn’t matter to him.
Much easier to just buy a shotgun, call it Official Acts, and go to town.
I think it’s traditional to say “Seal Team 6” rather than “assassins” at this point.
Who’s gonna vote to say it wasn’t official afterwards?
6 or so SC justices?
Oh no, here I go, acting officially again.
Ironically if he did that and appointed new liberal justices, there’s a good chance the new Court would overturn this Court’s decision, and he could be convicted of murder and probably violating several other federal laws for that act.
Worth it.
He’d be dead before the sentencing anyway. Take one for the team Joe!
Plus, it can’t be that hard to defend him with some perfectly reasonable doubts. A jury wouldn’t convict him for doing the right thing.
but nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy
- Joe Biden
Come on, Joe! Go out with a bang!
Joe bang!
I think there is something in the constitution about not being able to charge someone criminally for something retroactively, that wasn’t a crime at the time it was committed.
Found it! Article 1, section 9, clause 3.
The president is currently above the law, so the constitution is as good as toilet paper.
Ex post facto is for if a new law is passed making something a crime, and the act was committed before its passage. This is all about interpretation of already passed law. It’s basically the justices saying that this was against the law the whole time. Ex post facto doesn’t apply here.
Kamala could pardon him. I don’t think very many of their voters would mind.
No, because he’s not a Republican.
However, the justices that make that distinction relevant would no longer be able to do so?
I think the remainder would be against it regardless.
Crazy. Ive been thinking about enforceable ethics codes for companies. This would be a great start towards that.
But have you Called for those things?
He can do fuck all about it by himself.
He is the lamest of ducks.
Call for?
Can’t he executive order it?
“Call for”. What does that even mean? Flex those executive muscles.
They didn’t give him unlimited power to compel things, just the apparent ability to legally break laws. So unless he is sending people with guns and or handcuffs to compel things, nothing would happen.
For example if he made an Executive Order outlining corruption consequences, the Supreme Court would just say “Lol no!” He could send in people to arrest them I guess, but he would have to suspend their constitutional rights to a trial. I don’t think people would feel good watching people get no due process.
It’s more “thoughts & prayers”
“call for”??? FUCK THAT! just issue a few “official presidential acts” drone striking the corrupt ones, and also anyone who refuses to approve the replacements he appoints.
I’m hoping he makes a bunch of executive decisions, make a few crazy ones, pardons himself and bounce.
Especially if he invites the supreme court to correct their presidential immunity mistake as his last act. Of course, shit that wasn’t illegal when you did it can’t (usually) legally be charged after it’s made illegal. Ex post facto laws are a hard sell.
That wouldn’t be an ex post facto law situation though, would it? There is no new law, just a different interpretation.
Lock them up lock them up
He should work on all of these:
Term limits for Supreme Court
Abolish Electoral college
Restrictions on corporate real estate investing
Forgive student loans
Restrictions on members of government trading stocks
Ranked choice voting in all national elections.
Electoral districts by GIS hexagon mapping.
NTRA, National Railroad Trackage Rights Act, which allows any railroad to run on any other railroad’s trackage and service any customer to promote competition.
Death penalty for any self-identified religious person violating any rule in their religion.
1 million dollar fine for each falsehood or misleading statement on broadcast media, including entertainment and drama. Normalizing lying has to stop.
All theft and burglary convictions, including white collar, require making whole of all consequences to the victims instead of incarceration.
National Police Registry (NPR) for all enforcement personnel.
That’s a wild list haha. You’re a dreamer.
Regarding RCV, it has to happen at the state level. I support that tho
The first two of those will require constitutional amendments. That’s a years-long process.
Not really. There’s a popular vote interstate compact that is designed to bypass a constitutional amendment. Basically, the law says that once enough states agree to it, meaning to total electoral votes reaches 270, their votes go for whichever candidate won the popular vote.
I am well familiar with that one, but that is a state-level endeavor, and I’m not sure that Biden, as a federal office-holder, should be involved in that.
He could encourage states to join
Hopefully Kamala would continue that process
Better get started then
The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago. The second best time is today.
They need to get on it!
He’s been working on #4 pretty consistently at least
What’s the average amount of student loan forgiveness that students have received? Do you think it is more or less than a months rent?
Unfortunately blanket student loan forgiveness keeps getting blocked by republicans in congress or judges they’ve appointed. They’ve only been able to provide relief to those who need it most. I know I haven’t gotten any. But that’s why average isn’t a great metric to use here-- I don’t need it, others do. Not to mention, average in terms of what-- absolute monetary value? Proportion of money received compared to total loan balance? Compared to original loan balance before interest?
Because I’m bored though, I’ll humor you.
Total direct loan forgiveness (not counting repayment pauses during covid or other relief measures): $167 billion
Total US outstanding student loan debt: $1.77 trillion
Total US outstanding student loan borrowers: 42.8 million
Average student loan debt per outstanding borrower: ~$40k (same source as above)
Total percentage of debt cancelled: 167m/1770m = 9.4%
Average debt relief per person: $3,900 (!)
So yes, it’s paid for multiple months worth of rent, and relieved about 10% of everyone’s debt on average! Better than I expected.
There’s already a state-level effort on #2 that’s pretty far along: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Popular_Vote_Interstate_Compact
I declare reform!
