Joe Biden in Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2020-2024

On Civil Rights: Dangerous to question LGBT rights and contraceptive rights

JOE BIDEN: Justice Thomas' said as much today. He explicitly called to reconsider the right of marriage quality, the right of couples to make their choices on contraception. This is an extreme and dangerous path the court is now taking us on.

FACT-CHECK: Justice Thomas frequently writes concurring opinions that talk about other theories that maybe he's the only one on the court to hold. The opinion [on Dobbs] is clearly limited to abortion and it's also clear that while Justice Thomas is willing to consider rethinking substantive due process, Justice Thomas believes in the "privileges & immunity clause" [due process before abridging rights] which other justices don't follow.

On Crime: Support common-sense police reforms like banning chokeholds

"While I do not support every provision of the Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2022," President Biden wrote in his veto message, "this resolution from congressional Republicans would overturn common sense police reforms such as: banning chokeholds; setting important restrictions on use of force and deadly force; improving access to body-worn camera recordings; and requiring officer training on de-escalation and use of force."

On Government Reform: No One is Above the Law Amendment: no presidential immunity

Mr. Biden's plan for Supreme Court reform [proposes] an amendment to the Constitution called the No One is Above the Law Amendment, which would state that the Constitution doesn't grant immunity from federal criminal indictment, trial, conviction or sentencing to a former president, according to the White House. "I share our Founders' belief that the president's power is limited, not absolute. We are a nation of laws--not of kings or dictators," Mr. Biden wrote in an op-ed for the Washington Post about his plan.

On Government Reform: 18-year term limits for Supreme Court Justices

[One] proposed reform would do away with lifetime appointments for members of the Supreme Court and instead set 18-year term limits. Under Mr. Biden's plan, the president would appoint a new justice every two years, who would then serve for 18 years.

"Term limits would help ensure that the court's membership changes with some regularity," Mr. Biden wrote. "That would make timing for court nominations more predictable and less arbitrary. It would reduce the chance that any single presidency radically alters the makeup of the court for generations to come."

On Government Reform: Binding code of conduct for the Supreme Court

The Supreme Court implemented ethics rules in November, but it does not include an enforcement mechanism. Mr. Biden called its ethics code "weak and self-enforced."

Mr. Biden's proposed reforms come after the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, issued a series of landmark decisions in recent years. Those decisions, as well as scrutiny over ethics practices at the high court, have made it a target of Democrats, who have argued the Supreme Court has undermined public confidence in itself.

Two of Biden's three proposed changes--term limits and a binding code of conduct--would require action from Congress, making it unlikely they will become law before the president leaves office in January 2025.  

On Health Care: Negotiated Medicare prices for first 10 drugs

Congress for decades prohibited Medicare from negotiating drug prices, something that virtually all other countries do. It's a chief reason why drug prices are two to four times higher in the United States than in other wealthy countries. Medicare will pay less than half of the current list prices on nine of the first 10 drugs that were included in the program.

"For years, millions of Americans were forced to choose between paying for medications or putting food on the table, while Big Pharma blocked Medicare from being able to negotiate prices on behalf of seniors and people with disabilities," Biden said in a statement. "But we fought back--and won."