Should there be a term limit for Supreme

Court Justices instead of a lifetime

appointment?

Johanna Guterl

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 Background issue of amendment Supreme Court
U.S. Government

- Supreme Court of Justice members, once appointed, may serve until they
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perish or retire whenever they see it fit.

- Political views of people change as time goes on and many Supreme Court of
Justice members don’t share the opinions currently held by the majority of
the current population.

- Many members reach a certain age where they are out of touch with the
world’s current view, which drastically increases the time needed to progress
as a society.

- As indicated in the graph, there is a notable shift in political views between

the age groups. The average age of the Supreme Court of Judges is 61.5,
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placing them in a political category not shared by the majority.
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U.S. Government
What my proposed amendment is and how it solves
the issues it was suggested to resolve
- My proposed amendment is to limit the years that the Supreme Judge can
be voted in.

- This would be accomplished by putting a limit on the years that the

Supreme Judges could serve. This maximum would be of 18 years that
could be divided in 3 terms of 6 years each.

- This benefits the people of the US by allowing the people that make the
laws to have similar views to the rest of the citizens and by having the
Judges regularly review the process of their decision-making.5

- It would also encourage presidents to vote for the people that they deem
the best for the position, instead of finding the youngest people they can
that align with their belief.

- Allow presidents to appoint Supreme Courts of Justice that hey agree with
and that has more up-to-date views than those who were there previously.
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U.S. Government
Counterarguments and their rebuckle

- One of the main counterarguments would be that there has never

been a term limit for Supreme Court Judges. In response to this I
would argue that even what is written in the U.S. Constitution isn’t
always correct, which is why there have been 27 Amendments. By
allowing this change to take place, it would allow society to progress
at a rapid rate.

- Another counterargument that could possibly be brought up would be

that this system is too complex to be able to feasibly implement.
Regarding this I would like to point out the complexities that the
current Supreme Court Justice system when it comes to deciding on
difficult cases. Many of their ruling turn-out to be ”old-fashioned” and
face harsh criticism from the whole country. If a term limit were to be
implemented, these ruling could be a bit more up to date with current
issues and opinions that the U.S., as a society, has. This process
would also allow the presidents to feel more comfortable with the
highest powers of the law and allow their plans and ideas to be passed 6
at a higher rate.
Progression of society
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U.S. Government
Citations

1) Supreme Court of Justice. “Justices.” Home - Supreme Court of the United States, 2022,
https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/justices.aspx.
2) Kelly, Martin. “How Long Do Supreme Court Justices Serve?” ThoughtCo, ThoughtCo, 4 Nov. 2020,
https://www.thoughtco.com/how-long-supreme-court-justices-serve-104776.
3) Ahmad, Nabeel. “How Old Are the Supreme Court Justices?” Legal Inquirer, 17 Nov. 2020,
https://legalinquirer.com/how-old-are-the-supreme-court-justices/.
4) DeSilver, Drew. “The Politics of American Generations: How Age Affects Attitudes and Voting Behavior.” Pew Research Center, Pew
Research Center, 27 July 2020,
https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/07/09/the-politics-of-american-generations-how-age-affects-attitudes-and-voting-behavior/.
5) Dixon, Rosalind. “Why the Supreme Court Needs (Short) Term Limits.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 31 Dec. 2021,
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/31/opinion/supreme-court-term-limits.html.
6) Society 5.0 and its evolution. AI-Artificial Intelligence; IoT-Internet, April 2020, Thirty Years of Science, Technology, and Academia in
Disaster Risk Reduction and Emerging Responsibilities,
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Society-50-and-its-evolution-AI-Artificial-Intelligence-IoT-Internet-of-Things-Source_fig2_340544156

US Government, Module 2, Activity 2.04