President Biden’s plan to overhaul SCOTUS

President Biden unveiled his outline for changes to the Supreme Court, which includes term limits for justices and a new code of ethics. He also called for a constitutional amendment saying former presidents do not have immunity from any federal criminal indictments, trials, convictions or sentencing — a direct dig at the Court’s recent immunity ruling in Trump’s favor.

The plan comes amid a series of landmark decisions by the Supreme Court that favored conservatives, such as the overturning of Chevron and rulings on abortion and affirmative action, that sparked Democrats to criticize the 6-3 conservative controlled-court for an alleged lack of impartiality.

“What is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach,” President Biden wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post.

Biden wants to end lifetime appointments to the court and establish a system where the president would appoint one new justice every two years to spend eighteen years in active service on the Supreme Court. This would give each president at least two court appointments — four if they serve two terms in the White House. He also wants to create a code of ethics requiring justices to disclose gifts, refrain from political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have financial or other conflicts of interest. Conservative justice Clarence Thomas appears to be a target of these ethical rules, as his friendship with billionaire Harlan Crow has been scrutinized in a series of articles by ProPublica and critics say his wife’s connections to the “Stop the Steal” movement should be reason for Thomas to recuse himself from cases related to January 6. 

The president is set to lay out his proposals at a celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, signed by President Lyndon Johnson in 1964, in Austin, Texas.

Biden’s proposals, however, have little chance of passing in a highly divided Congress, given Republicans’ majority in the House and the Democrats’ narrow majority in the Senate. And the last time Congress ratified an amendment to the Constitution was thirty-two years ago. It is also highly unlikely any of these changes would be implemented in the months leading up to the election.

–Elisenne Stoller

On our radar

WHEELS OFF THE BUS A $5 billion electric school bus program spearheaded by Vice President Kamala Harris has resulted in just sixty low-emissions buses being deployed across the country, according to a report by the Free Beacon. 

ASSASSINATION INVESTIGATION Former president Donald Trump agreed to sit down for an interview with the FBI about the attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania rally earlier this month as Congress revealed the names of members who would sit on the committee dedicated to investigating the incident. 

THUMBS UP FOR PROJECT 2025 A new poll by RMG Research found that Americans actually support main elements of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which has been used as a major attack line by Democrats, when they learn what’s in the plan. 

Google’s erasure of Trump prompts blowback

If you want to find information about the attempted assassination attempt on President Donald Trump, Google’s search suggestions are not on your side:

The powerful search engine’s bizarre search suggestions have provoked a flurry of backlash, including from X CEO Elon Musk.

“Ahem @Google…,” he tweeted at the company. He’s not alone in putting it on blast. Andrew Bailey, Missouri’s attorney general, tweeted that he is “on it.” It’s not clear whether Google is violating any laws, however.

The fairly overt bias from Google comes as other tech-related issues are bubbling to the surface. On Apple’s iOS, for example, the autogenerated suggestions for “President” are “Clinton,” “George” and “Obama,” curious erasure of both the most recent president and the current occupant of the Oval Office.

–Matthew Foldi

J.D. Vance writes unremarkable emails to trans friend

Articles written about J.D. Vance this week consisted of personal emails he sent to a transgender friend from his law school days. Vance’s friend, Sofia Nelson, shared with the New York Times about ninety emails between the two. The emails began with Vance apologizing for calling Sofia an “extremely progressive lesbian” in his book Hillbilly Elegy.

“I recognize now that this may not accurately reflect how you think of yourself, and for that I am really sorry,” Vance wrote in the email. “I hope you’re not offended, but if you are, I’m sorry! Love you, J.D.”

The information revealed in the emails seem to be groundbreaking for two reasons: J.D. Vance has a tender and “thoughtful tone” and he used to hate Trump (we already knew this).

The two friends eventually had a falling out due to a disagreement over a law affecting trans kids. Nelson opposes the Trump/Vance ticket and released the emails in hopes of informing voters about J.D. Vance’s change in opinion.

“It’s unfortunate this individual chose to leak decade-old private conversations between friends to the New York Times,” Luke Schroeder, a spokesman for the Vance campaign said in a statement. “Senator Vance values his friendships with individuals across the political spectrum. He has been open about the fact that some of his views from a decade ago began to change after becoming a dad and starting a family — and he has thoroughly explained why he changed his mind on President Trump. Despite their disagreements, Senator Vance cares for Sofia and wishes Sofia the very best.”

–Ella Johnson