Justice Neil Gorsuch responded to President Joe Biden radical reform proposal for Supreme Court “Be careful,” he told Biden in an interview that aired Sunday.
Asked by Fox News’ Shannon Bream to respond to Biden’s offer, Gorsuch told her: “You’re not going to be surprised that I’m not going to get political right now during a presidential election year. I don’t think it will be useful.”
But the justice added that for Americans, an independent judiciary “means that you can get a fair hearing under the law and the Constitution when you’re unpopular. If you are in the majority, you don’t need judges and juries to listen to you and protect your rights. You are famous.”
The court system is “for those moments when the spotlight is on you, the government is after you, and you don’t want a wildly independent judge and a jury of your peers making those decisions?” Gorsuch added.
“And I’m just saying, be careful,” he said.
Last month, Biden traveled to Texas to announce a series of proposed Supreme Court reforms that would impose mandatory ethics rules on the court and term limits for justices.
The proposals are unlikely to be implemented before Biden’s term ends, but they represent a policy goal for Democrats as several Supreme Court justices have come under increased scrutiny in the past few years.
ProPublica reported on this last year a number of expensive gifts and trips Justice Clarence Thomas met with billionaire Harlan Crow.
Thomas’ wife, Ginny Thomas, also faced scrutiny his role in trying to subvert The defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 elections.
And earlier this year, Justice Samuel Alito and his wife were at the center of controversy over two flags flying in their home: one “Appeal to heaven“ flag and one up–the american flag came down. Both are symbols used by Trump supporters and were flying on the plane during the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Alito denied the flags had anything to do with Trump, instead saying an upside-down American flag was flying at his home during an argument between his wife and neighbors.