Senate Democrats introduced legislation on Thursday to place term limits on Supreme Court justices, reigniting debate around the issue championed by Democrats in the House and the Senate.
Would the Supreme Court be able to strike such a law down if they themselves challenged it? They obviously couldn’t be impartial regarding a case like this, so who would rule on something like this?
Part of the original reasoning of the supreme court being appointed and not elected was for it to be above politics and allow for skilled specialists to be appointed, and honestly I’m inclined to agree with that thinking.
I do believe term limits are a very good idea for all offices though. Say, 12 years for elected positions (2-3 terms) and 8-10 for appointed to allow for individuals to really get good at what they do, but keep it short enough to get new blood in there and provide clear avenues for retirement, or moving into new offices as desired by the individual.
They can only strike it down as unconstitutional or something, they can’t just say they don’t like it. I’m not sure what grounds they could even try to strike it down on. Congress has changed the rules about stuff like this and the Supreme Court before.
In all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party, the supreme Court shall have original Jurisdiction. In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
Would the Supreme Court be able to strike such a law down if they themselves challenged it? They obviously couldn’t be impartial regarding a case like this, so who would rule on something like this?
The citizens of the US voting on it would be nice
You mean a referendum? The United States disallow it because “the country is a republic”.
You can even change the constitution by a referendum (never happend before, but you could).
To slightly correct myself: The congress would need to initialize it and it was used before: For the 21 amendment (which ended the prohibition).
Part of the original reasoning of the supreme court being appointed and not elected was for it to be above politics and allow for skilled specialists to be appointed, and honestly I’m inclined to agree with that thinking.
I do believe term limits are a very good idea for all offices though. Say, 12 years for elected positions (2-3 terms) and 8-10 for appointed to allow for individuals to really get good at what they do, but keep it short enough to get new blood in there and provide clear avenues for retirement, or moving into new offices as desired by the individual.
They can only strike it down as unconstitutional or something, they can’t just say they don’t like it. I’m not sure what grounds they could even try to strike it down on. Congress has changed the rules about stuff like this and the Supreme Court before.
No, they would not.