House Democrats are reportedly preparing a piece of legislation to limit the time a justice may serve on the Supreme Court.
The bill, titled the Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act, allows the president to nominate two justices to the high court during each four-year term and restricts the tenure of justices to 18 years, according to Reuters. Democratic Reps. Ro Khanna, Joe Kennedy III, and Don Beyer plan to reveal the legislation on Tuesday.
“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,” Khanna said in a statement.
Article III of the Constitution specifically states that justices “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.” According to the Supreme Court, this “means that the Justices hold office as long as they choose and can only be removed from office by impeachment.”
The bill reportedly attempts to avoid constitutional violations by exempting current Supreme Court justices and allowing later confirmed high-court nominees to rotate to lower courts upon retiring after 18 years.
“That’s perfectly consistent with their judicial independence and having a lifetime salary and a lifetime appointment,” said Khanna.
Some legal observers said that the tenure of justices can only be limited by constitutional amendment, a difficult process only done 27 times throughout the country’s history. There are two ways to amend the Constitution, though only one strategy has been used.
Two-thirds of both bodies in Congress could pass an amendment for the states to vote on, which would subsequently require approval from at least three-fourths of all states. The second method, though it hasn’t been tried, requires two-thirds of state legislatures to call a Constitutional Convention initiating the process and a three-fourths approval from the states.
The bill would come following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died Friday after a battle with cancer. Republicans are pushing forward with a plan to vote on President Trump’s forthcoming Supreme Court nominee, whom he said he will announce on Saturday. Trump has also said he will pick a woman for the high court. Federal judges Amy Coney Barrett and Barbara Lagoa are said to be top contenders.
Democrats, including presidential nominee Joe Biden, have demanded a nominee not be selected for the high court until there is a winner in the November election. Some have even suggested that if Republicans push through a nominee and Democrats take control of Congress in November, they will vote to expand the Supreme Court.
