Staff Reports
President Biden’s latest move to call for term limits on Supreme Court justices appears to be a desperate attempt to distract from his own dwindling political fortunes. As he circles the exit as a “lame duck” president, his proposal seems largely influenced by a series of court decisions that have left his administration hot under the collar. Notably, the high court’s rulings have upheld a kind of immunity for actions taken by his predecessor, Donald Trump, which clearly rankles Biden more than a bad case of sunburn.
Legal experts are already dissecting the implications of Biden’s term limit plea, which raises eyebrow-raising questions about the Constitution’s separation of powers—a principle that seems to have eluded the current administration. A law professor recently pointed out the delightful irony of Biden advocating for the sidelining of justices when he’s been urged to step aside himself due to his own apparent cognitive decline. In a political landscape rife with irony, this proposal stands tall as one of the more ludicrous.
Lame duck Biden goosed by reams of rulings reining in his regs, constraining a Democratic successor https://t.co/vG1kK1fKE3
— NahBabyNah #Trump (@NahBabyNah) July 23, 2024
The Supreme Court’s current conservative 6-3 tilt has left the Democratic agenda in tatters, a fate Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are grappling with, as they realize that simply wishing for new justices won’t magically align the court with their leftist whims. They rely heavily on a sprawling administrative state to bypass congressional gridlock, yet the courts are throwing major wrenches into Biden’s expansive plans. Agency after agency has faced courtroom defeats under the Biden administration’s regulatory blitz, which should have the mentioned officials sweating bullets.
Even Biden’s own Supreme Court nominee, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, has caused headaches for the administration, joining her conservative colleagues in ruling that the Justice Department overstepped its bounds in prosecuting the January 6 rioters. As the court sheds light on Biden’s expansive regulatory authority, the president’s strategy of using federal agencies to push his agenda has come under increasing scrutiny. The high court’s decision to roll back “Chevron deference” is like handing a toddler a jar of pickles—no good can come from it.
As the decision-making power swings back to judges from bureaucrats, the Biden administration’s liberal hopes don’t look too promising. This is further complicated by a spate of recent rulings blocking various initiatives that Democrats thought were slam dunks, such as education regulations adding gender identity protections to Title IX. The tidal wave of legal opposition shows that, even at the federal level, the Biden team is facing a reality check, and states are pushing back.
Judges across the country have made their discontent with the Biden administration’s overreaching powers known, issuing tape-stopping orders from Texas to Louisiana. Whether it’s thwarting plans for student loan forgiveness or blocking draconian conservation measures likened to a money-grab scheme, the judiciary underlines that the idea of unchecked authority isn’t flying this season. In a game of political chess, Biden is learning the hard way that the checks and balances established by the founding fathers are alive and well—even if the current president wishes they weren’t.
