Joe Kennedy III introduces bill to cap Supreme Court term limits at 18 years

WASHINGTON — Congressman Joe Kennedy III is introducing a bill that would bring about monumental changes to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Under Kennedy’s proposed legislation, any Supreme Court Justices approved after the bill’s passage would have 18-year term limits, and after the 18 years elapse, justices would then be allowed to continue their service on lower courts.

Kennedy’s proposed legislation comes as Republicans rush to confirm a new Supreme Court Justice following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. At the age of 87, Ginsburg passed away a week ago of complications related to metastatic pancreatic cancer.

Introduced with Congressman Don Beyer and Congressman Ro Khanna, the push is the first attempt at capping Supreme Court term limits in the form of a bill, as opposed to a constitutional amendment.

“For many Americans, the Supreme Court is a distant, secretive, unelected body that can make drastic changes in their lives without any accountability,” said Rep. Beyer. “The dramatic politicization of the Court in recent years has greatly undermined the conception of the Court as a group of dispassionate, apolitical jurists, and made the argument for lifetime tenure increasingly obsolete. When I first ran for Congress in 2014, one of the core ideas in my platform was reforming the Supreme Court to limit terms to end lifetime tenures. Recent upheaval in the Court has only made it clear how much that reform is needed. Our bill would achieve this important advance, and restore a measure of balance, and I thank Rep. Khanna and Rep. Kennedy for their leadership on this important legislation.”

“We can’t face a national crisis every time a vacancy occurs on the Supreme Court,” said Rep. Khanna. “No justice should feel the weight of an entire country on their shoulders. No president should be able to shift the ideology of our highest judicial body by mere chance. Most importantly, our country’s top constitutional questions shouldn’t be decided by a panel of jurists who are biding their time until a president of their choice is elected. It’s time to standardize and democratize the Supreme Court.”

The bill is endorsed by Fix the Court. The bill will be introduced in the United States House of Representatives on Tuesday September 29, 2020.

Cox Media Group