House Democrats introduce legislation to impose term limits on Supreme Court justices

Democratic legislators in the House of Representatives are introducing a bill that would impose term-limits on U.S. Supreme Court justices, barring them from the Court after 18 years.

The Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act, if passed into law, would impose such limits and also empower the president to nominate new Supreme Court justices every two years.

Proponents of the bill argue that the legislation will “restore legitimacy and independence to the nation’s highest court.”

An AP-NORC survey published earlier this week asserts that 67% of Americans would support such term limits for jurists serving on the Court.

The legislation is being spearheaded by Rep. Hank Johnson, a Democrat from Georgia, who introduced the bill Tuesday, carrying the support of six other House Democrats.

Johnson conceded that the bill’s legislative intent is to undo the high court's 6-3 conservative majority, a transition that occurred during the Trump administration between 2017-2021.

“Five of the six conservative justices on the bench were appointed by presidents who lost the popular vote, and they are now racing to impose their out-of-touch agenda on the American people, who do not want it,” Johnson said in a Congressional press release.

“Term limits are a necessary step toward restoring balance to this radical, unrestrained majority on the court.”

Some Democratic lawmakers have made the argument that justices appointed by presidents who won the electoral college but lost the popular vote lack a mandate and judicial authority.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s made strident efforts to expand court to more than nine justices to dilute its conservative majority, but his efforts were unsuccessful.