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Biden Says He Opposes Term Limits On The Federal Judiciary

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Monday that he opposes term limits for federal judges ― his latest comment on what he would or wouldn’t do to the court system if elected president.

As part of his plan to create a commission to study the federal courts, Biden said he would look at how long justices serve on the Supreme Court. One reporter asked the former vice president if that meant he was open to term limits, to which Biden immediately shook his head and repeated: “No, no, no.”

“No,” he said. “It’s a lifetime appointment. I’m not going to attempt to change that at all.”

The candidate’s potential commission is “just a group of serious constitutional scholars with a number of ideas about how we should proceed from this point on,” he said. “And that’s what we’re going to be doing. I’m going to give them 180 days, God willing, if I’m elected, from the time I’m sworn in to be able to make such a recommendation.”

Many Democrats have called for judicial reforms, such as term limits and expanding the Supreme Court, particularly after President Donald Trump nominated 48-year-old Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court. Biden’s comment on term limits came the same day the Senate voted to confirm Barrett, which gives Republicans a 6-3 conservative majority on the highest court in the nation.

The Democratic candidate refuses to take a position on adding justices to the Supreme Court if elected president but has repeatedly said he will appoint a bipartisan commission to study judicial reforms. Biden has also been vocally against Trump and Republicans pushing Barrett through the...

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