Opinion | Joe Biden’s proposed US Supreme Court reforms are long overdue

In the twilight of American institutions, US President Joe Biden recently stepped forward with a proposal that, while unlikely to see the light of legislative day, deserves a serious hearing.

Biden’s proposed sweeping changes to the Supreme Court – a proposal for term limits on justices, a binding code of conduct and a constitutional amendment that would undo a controversial decision by the court that grants US presidents wide immunity from criminal prosecution – have been met with predictable derision from Republicans.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said the proposal would be “dead on arrival in the House”. The predictable resistance should not obscure a crucial truth: the Supreme Court is on the brink of crisis. Biden’s reforms are an overdue response to the unravelling of one of the last American bastions of public trust.

The Supreme Court has become embroiled in scandals and decisions that have shattered its reputation. The most glaring examples are not just the decisions that stoke ideological fires, but the ethical quagmires that have ensnared some of the court’s most prominent justices.

Justice Clarence Thomas has found himself at the centre of a storm. Reports that Thomas accepted lavish gifts from billionaire benefactors with interests before the court raise the spectre of bribery. Between 2004 and 2023, he reportedly received gifts worth more than US$2.4 million. Other justices received gifts worth six figures.

Then there is Virginia Thomas, the justice’s wife, whose overt support for Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud brings into question the very independence of her husband’s judgment. When a justice’s spouse is engaged in attempts to challenge an election’s legitimacy, can the public be faulted for wondering where the justice’s loyalties lie?