Ro Khanna reintroduces bill to set Supreme Court term limits

Legislation aims to fix “broken” Supreme Court amid “rampant, blatant ethics violations and increasing politicization“ and Trump blitz

By Arun Kumar

Amid President Donald Trump’s blitz of executive orders to reshape the American polity in his image with little legal constraint, Indian American lawmaker Ro Khanna is leading an effort to fix a “broken” Supreme Court by setting term limits.

Democratic House members, Khanna (CA-17) and Don Beyer (VA-08) Feb. 6 reintroduced the Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act to establish 18-year term limits on any Supreme Court Justices approved after the bill is signed into law.

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Current justices would be exempt from the term limits. Going forward, the bill would then create a regular appointment process to allow every president to nominate a new justice to the Supreme Court during each odd year, guaranteeing each president the opportunity to nominate two justices per four-year term, according to a press release.

“The public’s trust in the Supreme Court has plummeted. Extreme conservatives on the Court have stripped away Americans’ fundamental rights,” said Rep. Ro Khanna. “Term limits and a binding code of ethics will rebalance the Court and rebuild confidence in our institutions. I’m proud to have led this effort with Rep. Beyer and my colleagues.”

“Rampant, blatant ethics violations and increasing politicization have made it clear that the U.S. Supreme Court is broken – and that reform is urgently needed to restore Americans’ faith in the integrity of the Court,” said Rep. Don Beyer. “Our legislation would restore meaningful balance and public trust in our nation’s highest Court by establishing term limits and ending lifetime tenures.”

“Rep. Khanna’s and Rep. Beyer’s legislation obligating senior status for future Supreme Court justices after 18 years on the high court is both constitutional and prudent,” said Gabe Roth, Executive Director, Fix the Court. “The Court itself has upheld the creation of senior status in the lower courts, and no one in a democracy should serve in such a powerful position as justice for 30-plus years as is now the norm.”

“At a time when poll after poll shows the American people are hungry for change at the Supreme Court, I applaud Reps. Khanna and Beyer for once again demonstrating that Congress can assert its Article I power to set reasonable constraints for what’s become a woefully antiquated and unaccountable institution.”

A release from Khanna’s office cited an Annenberg Public Policy Center poll finding that 68% of Americans support term limits for Supreme Court Justices. A Fox News poll found that 78% of Americans support an 18-year term limit for the justices.