White House: Biden still ‘does not agree with’ expanding Supreme Court, but is open to term limits

The White House said this weekend in the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade that President Biden is not in agreement with the idea of expanding the high court.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press briefing aboard Air Force One on Saturday, “I was asked this question yesterday, and I’ve been asked it before… about expanding the Court. That is something that the President does not agree with. That is not something that he wants to do.” 

While the White House has made it clear that the president will not consider supporting moves to expand the number of SCOTUS justices, there is a possibility the administration may discuss term limits for justices on the Supreme Court. A presidentially-appointed commission recommended last year that term limits may be the most effective and most attainable measure, as calls to reform the court grow louder now that Roe has been struck down.

Democrat rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called on the president and Democratic leadership to act to reform the court as its legitimacy is called into question. “In a legitimacy crisis, the solution Biden + Dem leaders must offer can’t just be one of voting, but of statute & authority,” AOC Tweeted. In the same thread, she referred to the lack of term limits as a “core gerontocracy problem of lifetime appointments.” 

In an address to the nation on Friday afternoon regarding the SCOTUS decision, Biden characterized the Supreme Court as having become too political, and being taken by right wing extremism.

“It was three justices named by one President — Donald Trump — who were the core of today’s decision to upend the scales of justice and eliminate a fundamental right for women in this country. Make no mistake: This decision is the culmination of a deliberate effort over decades to upset the balance of our law.  It’s a realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court, in my view,” Biden said.