I wonder if they really thought this through, because it will make quite a few people think “hey, how about term limits on Senators and Representatives?”
Democrats introduce bill to enact term limits for Supreme Court justices
A group of House Democrats introduced a bill on Tuesday to enact term limits for Supreme Court justices, arguing that the move will “restore legitimacy and independence to the nation’s highest court.”
The legislation, titled the Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act, would authorize the president to nominate Supreme Court justices every two years — in the first and third years after a presidential election. The justices who have been on the court the longest will be moved to senior status first.
If confirmed by the Senate, those individuals would serve a maximum 18 years on the bench. After their tenures are complete, the Supreme Court justices would retire from active service and assume senior status.
Justices on the bench at the time of the bill’s enactment would switch to senior status one by one as justices are confirmed to the bench in the first and third years after a presidential election.
Those senior justices would have no voice except when another justice leaves for some reason, then they would service till a replacement is found. It’s a cute little system, an attempt to circumvent the Constitutional provision of needing an Amendment to enshrine term limits, hence, if it even passes, it would be immediately challenged, which would be interesting, considering it would end up at the Supreme Court. Lower level judges across the nation would be striking this down all over the place.
Perhaps them being there for life, or, until they decide to leave, isn’t the best, but, that’s what it is, per the Constitution, and is meant to mean that they cannot be bought, told what to do, and are only concerned with the Constitution. As it is, the average length of time a Justice serves is….16 years. Democrats somehow think this will get them control over the court. What happens when Republicans are able to appoint a lot of Conservative justices? What will the Democrats complaint then be? They’re sore winners and sore losers.
