US PRESIDENT Joe Biden has unveiled plans for reforms to the Supreme Court, calling on Congress to replace lifetime appointments with term limits for the nine judges and to make them subject to an enforceable ethics code.

Today, the White House detailed the contours of Mr Biden’s proposals, which appear to have little chance of being approved by a closely divided Congress before November’s presidential election.

Nonetheless, the White House is looking to tap into the growing outrage among Democrats at the court, which has a six-to-three conservative majority, overturning long-standing decisions on abortion rights and federal regulatory powers.

“I have great respect for our institutions and separation of powers,” Mr Biden argues in a Washington Post opinion article published today.

“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.”

The likely Democratic nominee, vice-president Kamala Harris, later issued a statement saying that the reforms being proposed “will help to restore confidence in the court, strengthen our democracy and ensure no-one is above the law.”

Mr Biden says Congress should establish a system in which the sitting president would appoint a judge every two years to serve for 18 years.

He also wants a code of ethics requiring justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which they or their spouses have conflicts of interest.

In addition, Mr Biden is calling on Congress to pass a constitutional amendment reversing the court’s recent landmark immunity ruling that former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution.

That decision extended the delay in the criminal case against Donald Trump on charges that he plotted to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat, all but ending any prospect of him being tried before the November election, in which he will be the Republican candidate.