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A group of Democratic senators has introduced legislation that would drastically alter how often Supreme Court justices are chosen, and limit the cases justices can hear after a certain time on the bench.
The new legislation, sponsored by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island), Cory Booker (D-New Jersey), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), and Alex Padilla (D-California), is called the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act. A number of Democratic senators have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill. It has not yet been endorsed by any Republicans.
The bill would require new appointments to the Supreme Court every two years, as opposed to the current process that only requires new appointments when there is a vacancy on the nine-member bench. Justices would still serve lifetime appointments, but the bill would limit the kind of cases a member of the Court can take part in after 18 years.
The Supreme Court hears two different types of cases: those that originate from appellate […]
A step in the right direction but too convoluted. What’s also needed is a mandate that nominees be considered within (x) days of a seat being vacated in order to stop the GOP stunts like occurred under Obama. Expand the court to create a pool of justices who are assigned at random to sit in panels of 9. Impose term limits. Impose ethics oversight by congressional committe.
Let’s see if these legislators show some real courage, and propose term limits for members of the House and Senate. It’s always easy to propose limits which apply to others and not yourself. .
Stephen
An 18 year term limit is one one of the ideas proposed in a new publication “Our Common Purpose-Reinventing American Democracy for the 21st Century” by the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and endorsed by PBS personalities Judy Woodruff and David Brooks, and many other respected academics and civic leaders.
I think many of your readers who may not be familiar with the publication would interested in seeing it.
CJ Jones
Thank you CJ, I will take a look.
sounds like a good plan. And I sense that the american public might agree!