Georgia Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson, a strong proponent of Supreme Court reform, says term limits for the justices is a way to eliminate ‘the possibility of long-term rot and decay’ that he argues is present on the high court now. 

‘Term limits is a way of creating a process that eliminates the possibility of long-term rot and decay due to corporate corruption on the court that we have now with no means of being able to correct it other than impeachment and conviction of a justice,’ Johnson told Fox News Digital in an interview Thursday.

‘And if you could not impeach and convict Donald Trump, you’re certainly not going to be able to remove a corrupt Supreme Court justice from office when he or she is doing the bidding of the right-wing forces that put them there in the very beginning.’

Johnson, a ranking member on the House Judiciary Committee, previously teamed up with Democrats in both the House and Senate to propose court reform bills in an effort to both expand the court and impose term limits on the justices. During Congress’ most recent session, Johnson introduced the Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act (TERM) that would impose 18-year term limits on justices.

In May 2023, Johnson joined Sens. Ed Markey, D-Mass., Tina Smith, D-Minn., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., as well as Democrat Reps. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., Cori Bush, D-Miss., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif., in reintroducing the Judiciary Act of 2023 that would expand the Supreme Court to a 13-justice bench. The nine-justice court currently has a conservative supermajority.

‘We want to prevent this kind of rot and decay from ever overtaking a Supreme Court again,’ Johnson said. ‘And term limits would enable that to happen.’

Johnson went on to say that justices with lifetime tenure become ‘unaccountable, and they can do whatever they want,’ calling the bench ‘a club of kings and queens who can do whatever they want to do simply because they serve in a third co-equal branch of government.’

President Biden previously voiced support for such reform, releasing a statement in late July delineating three specific reforms, one of which called for Congress to approve term limits. Vice President Harris echoed Biden’s sentiments, saying in a statement that reforms were being proposed because ‘there is a clear crisis of confidence facing the Supreme Court.’

Johnson said he has yet to have direct conversations with Harris about implementing such reforms in anticipation of the vice president possibly winning the Oval Office in November, but he said she is ‘aware of the challenge that we face.’

‘She’s supportive of efforts like my legislation,’ Johnson said. ‘So I look forward to having future conversations with, hopefully, President-elect and future President Kamala Harris and her team.’

Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign for comment.

Johnson acknowledged that proposals to reform the court would face an uphill battle toward enactment, with the congressman foreseeing the Senate blocking the measures with a filibuster.

‘We’re in it for the long haul, and however long it takes, this legislation will be there for consideration,’ he said.

The House Democrats’ campaign arm filed a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission (FEC) Thursday, alleging the agency’s failure to take action has led to Republican candidates using a campaign finance loophole in their television advertisements. 

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) filed its initial complaint for declaratory judgment and injunctive relief in D.C. District Court, which was first reported by Axios. The DCCC is arguing that Republicans are disguising attack ads paid for by joint fundraising committees as fundraising ventures, therefore circumventing fundraising caps.  

The suit comes after Senate Democrats previously accused Republicans of using the tactic and appealed to the FEC to rule if such a strategy is allowed. The commission voted 3-3 along party lines last week, thus allowing the GOP to continue with its ads. 

‘Federal law is clear that party committee expenditures coordinated with candidates are subject to limits. Republican candidates are so cash strapped that they’re now brazenly exploiting a self-created loophole to spend party committee money on candidate ads, well in excess of applicable limits, at the lowest unit charge,’ Rachel L. Jacobs, general counsel for the DCCC, told Fox News Digital in a statement. 

‘Their actions require DCCC and Democratic House candidates to make a choice between engaging in conduct they think is illegal at the risk of getting penalized by the FEC and/or Department of Justice, or being at a competitive disadvantage to their Republican counterparts to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.’

The DCCC is now asking the federal court to rule on whether the practice is illegal ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey told Axios, ‘I fully expect the FEC to prevail in this frivolous lawsuit. We will see the DCCC in court.’ 

The FEC declined to provide additional comment on ongoing litigation when asked for a statement by Fox News Digital. 

In a statement to Axios, National Republican Senatorial Committee General Counsel Ryan Dollar called the suit ‘a desperate stunt,’ saying the television ads were ‘approved unanimously in 2007 and reaffirmed last week.’

‘I’d be curious to hear what Harris Victory has to say about this ridiculous lawsuit, given that they have engaged in these ads themselves,’ Dollar told the outlet. 

With just a few weeks out from Election Day, Republicans are fighting to maintain control of the House and take over the Senate. The Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF), the leading outside group supporting House Republicans and closely aligned with House Speaker Mike Johnson, reported its highest fundraising quarter ever earlier this month, announcing an $81.4 million haul during the July-September third quarter of 2024 fundraising.  

The CLF also announced at the time that it would be funneling another $11 million in new ad reservations, sharing the news first with Fox News Digital. 

Likewise, the Senate Leadership Fund, the leading super PAC supporting Republican incumbents and candidates, announced it hauled in $114.5 million during the same fundraising quarter. 

Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report. 

In a now-deleted social media post, the head of operations for the left-wing British Labour Party indicated ‘nearly 100’ current and former party staffers will be headed to the U.S. to help Vice President Kamala Harris during the final stretch before the election.

The Labour Party leader, Sofia Patel, took to LinkedIn earlier this week to solicit help from current and former members of the party who would be willing to campaign for Harris in the key battleground state of North Carolina. Patel indicated in her post that she had already organized ‘nearly 100 Labour Party staff’ to stump across the key battleground states of Nevada, Pennsylvania and Virginia but had about 10 spots left for anyone willing to head to North Carolina. 

‘We will sort your housing,’ Patel assured anyone interested. ‘Email me on labourforkamala@gmail.com if you’re interested.’ 

Patel, in addition to deleting the post, appeared to delete her entire LinkedIn page as of Friday morning as well.   

There is no indication the Labour Party’s efforts have been coordinated with the Harris campaign. Fox News Digital reached out to both for comment but did not receive any on-the-record response by publication time. 

Following news of the Labour Party’s plans to help Harris, critics took issue with the move, with some slamming it as foreign election interference. 

‘Yet another reason to vote for President Trump,’ Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said. ‘More foreign election interference from the Democrats,’ added Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y. 

Meanwhile, Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., called for an investigation. ‘Election interference from foreign nationals. Investigate!’ Collins wrote on X. 

Elon Musk and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., both outright called the move illegal.  

‘You are breaking FEC laws,’ Greene said in a social media post directed at the Labour Party. ‘Foreign nationals are not allowed to be involved in anyway in U.S. elections. Please go back to the UK and fix your own mass immigration problems that are ruining your country.’ 

Musk, meanwhile, simply responded ‘This is illegal.’

X’s ‘Community Notes’ function, which serves to provide context for inaccurate or misleading information on the platform, flagged Greene’s remarks for additional context, however. According to the additional context added to her post, while federal election law does not allow foreign-nationals to make monetary or in-kind contributions in connection with federal races, it is permissable to participate in campaign activities as an uncompensated volunteer.

American journalist Isaac Saul, who founded a digital news project called Tangle News aimed at providing a non-partisan take on news headlines, echoed the arguments from X’s community note.

‘Elon Musk claiming Labour Party leaders are violating the law by coming here to campaign. They aren’t,’ Saul wrote on X in response to Musk’s comments that the Labour Party’s work was ‘illegal.’

‘This is only illegal if they are being compensated – the FB post indicates they are seeking volunteers,’ Saul pointed out.

The judge in former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case on Friday made public more documents from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president just weeks before the 2024 election. 

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered on Thursday night that additional documents be made public. 

The hundreds of pages of documents are Smith’s appendix of exhibits in the fight over whether Trump has a level of presidential immunity that negates the charges against him.

The majority of pages released to the public remain under seal and are not viewable by the public. 

Much of the unsealed material has been previously released in some form, including transcripts by the House Select Committee on Jan. 6. Other documents include old Trump campaign press releases, fundraising emails, White House press conference transcripts, and news articles. 

In the order to release the documents, Chutkan cited Trump’s claim that the ‘asymmetric release of charged allegations and related documents during early voting creates a concerning appearance of election interference.’ 

According to the judge, while there is a public interest for courts to avoid involving themselves in elections, ‘it is in fact Defendant’s requested relief that risks undermining that public interest.’

‘If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute — or appear to be — election interference,’ she argued. 

She added that the court would continue keeping political considerations out of decisions, despite the defense’s request. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates. 

Fox News’ Julia Johnson, Jake Gibson, David Spunt and Bill Mears contributed to this report. 

The judge in former President Trump’s federal election interference case on Friday made public more documents from Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the former president just weeks before the 2024 election. 

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan ordered on Thursday night that additional documents be made public. The hundreds of pages of documents are Smith’s appendix of exhibits in the fight over whether Trump has a level of presidential immunity that negates the charges against him.

‘Radical Democrats are hell-bent on interfering in the presidential election on behalf of Lyin’ Kamala Harris,’ Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told Fox News Digital. ‘With just over two weeks until Election Day, President Trump is dominating this race and Crazed Liberals throughout the Deep State are freaking out.’ 

Cheung added, ‘As mandated by the Supreme Court’s historic decision on Presidential Immunity and other vital jurisprudence, this entire case is a sham and a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely — as should ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes.’

The majority of pages released to the public remain under seal and are not viewable by the public. Much of the unsealed material has been previously released in some form, including transcripts by the House Select Committee on Jan. 6. Other documents include old Trump campaign press releases, fundraising emails, White House press conference transcripts and news articles. 

In the order to release the documents, Chutkan cited Trump’s claim that the ‘asymmetric release of charged allegations and related documents during early voting creates a concerning appearance of election interference.’ 

According to the judge, while there is a public interest for courts to avoid involving themselves in elections, ‘it is in fact Defendant’s requested relief that risks undermining that public interest.’

‘If the court withheld information that the public otherwise had a right to access solely because of the potential political consequences of releasing it, that withholding could itself constitute — or appear to be — election interference,’ she argued. 

She added that the court would continue keeping political considerations out of decisions, despite the defense’s request. 

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against him by Smith. 

The Supreme Court earlier this year ruled that a president is immune from prosecution for official acts. 

Smith was then required to file another indictment against Trump, revising the charges in an effort to navigate the Supreme Court ruling. The new indictment kept the prior criminal charges but narrowed and reframed the allegations against Trump after the high court’s ruling that gave broad immunity to former presidents. 

Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges in the new indictment as well. 

In a filing unsealed earlier this month, Smith outlines a ‘factual proffer,’ alleging Trump ‘resorted to crimes to try to stay in office’ after losing the 2020 presidential election.

‘With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin,’ Smith wrote. 

Smith claims that the ‘throughline of these efforts was deceit,’ claiming Trump and co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to interfere with the federal government function by which the nation collects and counts election results, which is set forth in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act (ECA); a conspiracy to obstruct the official proceeding in which Congress certifies the legitimate results of the presidential election; and a conspiracy against the rights of millions of Americans to vote and have their votes counted.’ 

Fox News’ Julia Johnson, Jake Gibson, David Spunt and Bill Mears contributed to this report.