While I think the number of justices on the Supreme Court should be increased to 13, I also think they should be term-limited, and bounded by strict ethics. In my view a proper term would be 12 years (basically three Presidential terms). The Brennan Center, as described here, thinks there should be term limits, but proposes 18 years, which I think is too long. One of the reasons I chose this article was that it showed one of the most prestigious legal centers in the country also supported term limits and, additionally, because this is the only commentary I have seen anywhere that makes what I consider to be a very important point. Justices are living longer now, because people are living longer today than they did in the 18th Century when the Founders designed the Supreme Court. Today there are justices serving what amount to generational terms of 35 years, and on average justices serve 10 years longer than they did in the past. I don’t think the Founders had anything like that in mind.
Illustration: Rudy Sulgan / BCJ / Getty
We’re in the final weeks of the Supreme Court’s term, waiting for rulings on affirmative action, LGBTQ+ rights, student loan forgiveness, and more. Alexander Hamilton wrote that the courts were the “least dangerous” branch of government. Not anymore. It’s hard to overstate the Supreme Court’s power and impact — or the damage done by its now-ensconced conservative supermajority.
As the Court has grown more powerful, so have individual justices, who now serve more than a decade longer on average than they used to. Some are likely to stay on the bench for as long as 35 years — covering nine presidential terms. All the while, they are shaping policies and laws that can endure for generations.
This is no way to run a democracy. A new Brennan Center report, which I wrote with my colleague Michael Milov-Cordoba, outlines a solution to restore balance and accountability to our nation’s highest court: adopting 18-year terms and regularized appointments for Supreme Court justices.
Here’s how this would work: After an 18-year active […]
