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| Photo Credit: AP. |
A group of Democrats Tuesday introduced a bill to provide term limits on Supreme Court justices.
The bill
would let the president appoint a justice in the first and third years of his
term an each justice would serve for 18years before retiring from regular
active service, Washington Times cited a report by Axios.
Why does the Democrats want to limit terms of Supreme Court Justices
The move by the
Democrats is unconnected with a recent Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe
v. Wade which provided unprecedented access to abortion. The ruling allowed
individual states to ban abortion in their respective states.
Democrats
said the current court, consisting of members appointed for life, is
illegitimate because of the popular vote that allows them to make landmark
rulings or overturn landmark rulings.
“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,” Rep. Hank Johnson, Georgia
Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill, said in a statement, according to The
Associated Press.
Axios
reported that Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Rhode Island Democrat, will introduce the
bill in the Senate.
The bill
would most likely fail in the Senate since the number of Democrats and
Republicans are evenly split at 50-50.
The Washington
Times reported that its constitutionality is dubious since one of the few
specific provisions of Article III, which established the judicial branch,
states that “The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold
their offices during good behaviour,” i.e., for life barring impeachment for
misconduct.
Democrats argue that term limits are necessary.
“Term limits
are a necessary step toward restoring balance to this radical, unrestrained
majority on the court,” said Mr. Johnson, who is chairman of the Judiciary
subcommittee on courts, according to The Washington Times.
The Axios report
said the bill would keep the number of voting justices at nine by moving an
existing justice, the longest serving first, to senior status upon each
biennial appointment.