Democrats Call For Term Limits
Senators Cory Booker (he/him)(D-NJ), Sheldon Whitehouse (he/him)(D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (he/him)(D-CT), and Alex Padilla (he/him)(D-CA), introduced a bill designed to impose term limits for the Supreme Court. Their bill states that every two years, the President would appoint a new justice that would hear every case for eighteen years before stepping back. The justice would be allowed to hear a “small number of constitutionally required cases” after their term is up, however. The bill was co-sponsored by Senators Mazie Hirono (she/her)(D-HI), Jeff Merkley (he/him)(D-OR), Peter Welch (he/him)(D-VT), and Brian Schatz (he/him)(D-HI).
Senator Booker, in a statement, said that partisanship and general politicization has taken over the Supreme Court. Senator Booker states that this, in turn, has turned people’s faith away from the Supreme Court and that trust must be regained. Senator Booker also believes that the Court has become “exacerbated” by radicalism.
There have been calls for reforms in the Supreme Court, especially after controversies surrounding Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, both conservative Justices. Fellow conservative Justice Amy Coney Barrett expressed support for a stronger code of ethics earlier this year in the wake of the allegations against Justices Thomas and Alito.
