Democrats Drop BOMB On SCOTUS Justices With Unbelievable New Bill
(USNewsMag.com) – There’s been much talk among Democrats about packing the Supreme Court, and those calls only seemed to get louder following the repeal of Roe v. Wade late last month. A recent poll, however, shows that there’s not much overall support for this action among Americans. It seems Democrats have instead come up with a different option: setting term limits for SCOTUS justices.
TERM Act of 2022
On Tuesday, July 26, House Democrats, led by Rep. Hank Johnson (GA), introduced the Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization (TERM) Act of 2022. Within, it proposes an amendment to Title 28 of the United States Code. First, the act says the US president shall appoint two justices during their term, one during the first year and one during the third. This would be the sole means of appointment.
Second, the TERM Act calls for a specific term limit for all justices — 18 years of active service, after which point they would achieve senior status. According to Johnson, the act seeks to “preserve life tenure.” When justices hit senior status, they will still serve in an official capacity and receive the same compensation, they just won’t work directly on the bench during cases. There’s an exception to this proposition, as well. Should there be fewer than nine justices, the most recent judge to achieve senior status “will fill in on the Court” until a replacement is appointed.
Johnson introduced the bill as a means of preserving the Supreme Court’s “legitimacy and independence,” according to the press release. Rep. David Cicilline spoke out, saying it’s imperative to “address the crisis facing the Court,” and implementing term limits will “help rebalance the bench and restore the public’s trust.”
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) is introducing the bill in the Senate, where it’s likely to fail as Democrats rarely succeed in overcoming the filibuster.
AP-NORC Poll Reveals Feelings on SCOTUS
An AP-NORC poll published on July 25 reveals that overall, 43% of people don’t have confidence in the nation’s High Court. This is a 16% increase over just a few months ago when just 27% of respondents said they lacked faith. When asked if they welcomed reforms to the Court, 34% overall said they wanted to increase the number of justices, 67% favored term limits, and 64% said they strongly or somewhat felt there should be a set retirement age for SCOTUS justices.
Democrats (82%) and Republicans (57%) were both largely in favor of term limits but differed on the idea of expanding the number of justices 52% to 14%, respectively.
How do you feel about the TERM Act, do you think Supreme Court justices should be limited in the time they serve?
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