BREAKING | 8196 views | Sep 24, 2020, 09:03pm EDT

House Democrats Reportedly Prep

Bill To Limit U.S. Supreme Court
Justice Terms To 18 Years
Elana Lyn Gross Forbes Staff
Business
I cover breaking news.

Updated Sep 25, 2020, 08:44am EDT

TOPLINE Democrats in the House of Representatives will reportedly introduce a bill

next week to limit the tenure of U.S. Supreme Court justices to 18 years as Ruth
Bader Ginsburg’s death puts a spotlight on the partisan fight over vacancies.

The U.S. Supreme Court. GETTY

KEY FACTS
• Reps. Ro Khanna (D-Ca.), Joe Kennedy III (D-Ma.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) said
they plan to introduce the Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular
Appointments Act on Tuesday, Khanna told Reuters.

• “It would save the country a lot of agony and help lower the temperature over
fights for the court that go to the fault lines of cultural issues and is one of the
primary things tearing at our social fabric,” said Khanna.

• The bill would limit each president to nominating two justices per four-year term,
per Reuters which said it obtained a copy.

• It would be the first legislation to set Supreme Court term limits by statute,
according to Gabe Roth, the executive director of the judicial advocacy group Fix
the Court, who notes Ginsburg’s death has brought more attention to the idea of
term limits for the justices, who currently have lifetime appointments, with legal
scholars and politicians from both sides of the aisle weighing in with potential
proposals.

KEY BACKGROUND

With the president and the Senate majority Republicans intent on rushing to
confirm a replacement for Ginsburg with the election looming and Democratic
presidential candidate Joe Biden leading in the polls, there has been speculation
that if the Democrats win the White House and take control of the Senate, they
could retaliate by expanding the court and packing it with liberal justices.

TANGENT

A 77% majority of Americans favor restrictions on the tenure of Supreme Court

justices while 23% are against it, according to a recent PBS survey commissioned by
Fix the Court. The survey found that 70% of Republicans, 72% of Democrats and
68% of Independents found the statement, “No one with a position as powerful as
Supreme Court justice should serve for life,” either “somewhat” or “very” persuasive.
It also found that 70% of Republicans, 73% of Democrats and 68% of Independents
were somewhat or very persuaded by the argument that, “Vacancies on the Supreme
Court often occur unexpectedly and sporadically; term limits will make it so that
vacancies are routine, which will reduce the political gamesmanship around them.”

FURTHER READING

Democrats prepare bill limiting U.S. Supreme Court justice terms to 18 years
(Reuters)

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Elana Lyn Gross

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I'm a reporter at Forbes and the author of What Next?: Your Five-Year Plan for Life After
College published by the Simon & Schuster imprint Adams Media. I have a… Read More

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