In Austin to commemorate Civil Rights Act, Biden calls for sweeping Supreme Court changes

President Biden called for sweeping changes to the Supreme Court and a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity, during remarks commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act in Austin on Monday.

During his address before about 1,000 people at the LBJ Presidential Library, Biden repeated a plan to overhaul the court he had outlined Monday morning in an op-ed in The Washington Post.

He emphasized the importance of the Supreme Court in furthering LBJ's work in civil rights, praising the former president for "challenging the court to live up to its constitutional responsibility."

Biden pointed to Johnson's nomination of Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court justice, and said LBJ "aggressively defend[ed] civil rights throughout the courts."

“But now, we live in a different era," the president said. "In recent years, extreme opinions that the Supreme Court has handed down have undermined long-established civil rights principles and protections.”

Biden said he was calling for "three bold reforms to restore trust and accountability to the court and our democracy." He called for a system in which the president appoints a justice every two years for an 18-year term "to reduce the chance that any single president imposes undo influence on generations to come."

Biden called the Supreme Court’s current ethics code “weak” and “voluntary" and said the country also needs a binding code of conduct that requires justices to disclose gifts, refrain from public political activity and recuse themselves from cases in which there are conflicts of interest.

“Most people don’t realize that Congress passed a law decades ago that says all federal judges — including Supreme Court justices — have to recuse themselves in such cases," he said. "But the current justices insist on enforcing that requirement themselves, without any public oversight.”

Biden also proposed a constitutional amendment — the No One Is Above The Law Amendment — that would limit the immunity presidents now have following a recent Supreme Court ruling, which he called a "dangerous precedent."

"We’re a nation of laws, not kings and dictators," he said in his speech.

America's 'unfinished fight'

Biden was introduced to the stage by United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, a leader in the civil rights movement who later represented Georgia in Congress.

“For the last 50 years, [Biden] has devoted himself to fulfilling the dreams of the American people — all of them: rich, poor, Black, white, red, green, gay, straight, whatever we are," he said, while seated in a wheelchair. "And I’m here reminding all of you that if you live long enough, all of us are gonna be handicapped one day.”

He said few people had been able to thrive and succeed while under so much pressure as Biden.

Earlier in the afternoon, Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston, who portrayed LBJ in the 2016 film All the Way, read an excerpt of a speech the president made after signing the landmark Civil Rights Act on July 2, 1964. The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Biden last year called civil rights "the unfinished fight of America."

“The walls of the LBJ Auditorium once again echo with history and voices of the past,” LBJ Foundation President and CEO Mark Updegrove said at Monday's commemoration.

Updegrove told KUT that Biden’s visit was significant because it comes a decade after four U.S. presidents marked the law’s 50th anniversary. Then-President Barack Obama, as well as former Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter attended a Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Library.

“It was one of the great moments in the life of this institution and our hope is this event with Joe Biden will add to that tradition,” he said.

Visit caps off weeks of political chaos

A planned visit to Austin earlier in the month was postponed after the attempted assassination of former President Trump.

The new visit comes just over a week after the president announced he would no longer seek a second term in the White House. On Wednesday, he addressed the nation from the Oval Office, saying that stepping aside was the "best way to unite" the country.

“It's been the honor of my life to serve as your president," he said, "but in defense of democracy, which is at stake, I think it's more important than any title.”

Congressman Lloyd Doggett was among the attendees. The Austin Democrat was one of the first lawmakers to call on Biden to drop his bid for a second term after his June 27 debate with Trump.

“So appropriate that President Biden is being honored as a civil rights champion for his many accomplishments. Though the circumstances may differ, like President Johnson, he has put country over ego," Doggett said in a statement. "His selfless decision to protect our democracy from an authoritarian takeover has cemented his legacy as a true statesman and patriot while offering renewed hope to all of us.”

Manoo Sirivelu

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KUT News

Protesters gather nearby

Around the same time as the LBJ event, a couple dozen protesters with the Austin for Palestine Coalition gathered at Eastwoods Neighborhood Park for a car caravan protest against Biden's handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. Demonstrators sat in cars decorated with anti-war signs and Palestinian flags. Soon after, the cars left to drive around the LBJ Library.

Zainab Haider, one of the protesters with the coalition, said Biden "has blood on his hands," and that the president attending this event to "try to repair his legacy is unacceptable."

“He has had more than ample time to bring about a cease-fire," Haider said. "We have lost complete faith in him, but it’s not too late for him to do the right thing.”

The coalition is calling on the U.S. to stop supplying weapons to Israel and for a full cease-fire in the conflict that has lasted over nine months. The group is also advocating for more aid to Gaza, which is facing widespread famine, according to the United Nations.

“We need more people to step up and realize that the United States is the entity that is funding Israel," Haider said. "We can stop it if enough people rise up.”

Corinne Piorkowski contributed to this report.

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