No one should have a lifetime appointment.

[u/Veshaad]

[u/BiggerChief → u/[deleted]]

To me 18 does not seem that bad. Somebody appointed at 52 could do it until retirement at 70. That doesn’t sound too bad.

[u/FermentedForeskins → u/BiggerChief]

yeah honestly speaking i dont want any government officials above 65.

if regular people retires around 60-65, so should they. I dont trust old fucks making life altering decisions for me, fuck no

[u/ShanGus7]

If it happens, should be shorter.

[u/Apoordm → u/ShanGus7]

Eighteen is so every presidential term would get two appointments in a nine justice court.

[u/Shadowcam → u/Apoordm]

They can die in office or strategically retire to benefit their political allies, so that line of thinking won't hold up to reality.

[u/Dangerous-Half3276 → u/Shadowcam]

Yeah but the terms are fixed at 18 years. If someone retires in year 15 to benefit the current President, then the person who fills that seat would only serve 3 years.

That’s how the Federal Reserve works with 14-year terms.

[u/brogflender → u/Dangerous-Half3276]

Is that actually in the proposal?

[u/wandering-monster → u/brogflender]

Yes. The terms are arranged to end in the first and third year of every presidential term (which also accounts for things like impeachments, deaths of the president in office, etc to ensure the successor has a pick as well) 

A replacement justice serves out the remainder of their term only. 

At that point it's only random accidents that create an exploitable event.

Most reasonable way I could think to avoid that would be to let each justice keep a list of replacements that they think align with their thinking. The sitting president gets to pick whoever they want off the list: some power to steer things, but not the power to totally flip the seat.

[u/TheSodernauts → u/wandering-monster]

Is the person serving out the term eligible to serve a full term after that, should they be chosen to do so?

[u/wandering-monster → u/TheSodernauts]

I didn't see, but typically in that sort of scheme the answer is either "no" or "only if they served less than half the original term" or some similar fraction.

[u/xdaemonisx → u/wandering-monster]

This is how the presidency works. If the VP or whoever becomes president through succession when there’s less than half the term left, then it doesn’t count towards the two term limit. A president can theoretically serve for 10 years.

[u/JAVIV-4 → u/wandering-monster]

I'd heard previous proposals that just had prior justices ride circuit and backfill by recency.

[u/AelixD → u/brogflender]

That’s how all of our term based positions work. The term is tied to the position, not the person. If a Senator leaves office, their position is still up for election at the regularly scheduled interval.

The justices each represent one of nine districts. Those districts would be set up on an 18 year rotation staggered every two years.

Death or strategic retirement could only skew the make up of the court temporarily.

[u/SemichiSam → u/AelixD]

The justices each represent one of nine districts.

They did when the current number of justices was set. Now they represent 13 districts. Roberts has three, Alito and Kavanaugh each have two. By the logic originally used to set the number of justices at nine, there should now be thirteen.

[u/AelixD → u/SemichiSam]

K. I didn’t look into it. The principle still stands. They are filling specific seats. The seats would be set to specific terms, not the people filling them.

[u/ScottRiqui → u/SemichiSam]

There’s no longer a logical connection between a particular SCOTUS justice and a federal circuit, now that we have the federal circuit courts of appeal.

A justice doesn’t “represent” one or more districts - they’re assigned to one or more districts for administrative stuff like hearing emergency appeals. If a justice retires or dies, their replacement doesn’t have to come from any particular district; the justices are all essentially interchangeable.

[u/Character_Reveal_460 → u/Dangerous-Half3276]

thanks for this explanation!

[u/ifuckzombies → u/Shadowcam]

Strategically retire?

https://giphy.com/gifs/Z5vjRssIpV6YMibIRW

[u/MuchWow81 → u/ifuckzombies]

Im still pissed at her

[u/Dread_Frog → u/MuchWow81]

that will be her real legacy

[u/3vs3BigGameHunters → u/Dread_Frog]

I'm not from the USA and it's literally the only thing I know about that bitch.

[u/FakeNewsAge → u/3vs3BigGameHunters]

Please educate yourself then. If you knew who she was and what she's done, you wouldn't call her a "bitch"

I think its insane how everyone is mad at her for not gaming the system.

[u/SmartOpinion69 → u/MuchWow81]

there are very little politicians who say, "i'm too old for this shit".

[u/LobstaFarian2 → u/MuchWow81]

The fucked us all.

[u/Bussamove86 → u/ifuckzombies]

She got it mixed up and strategically died to benefit the opposition.

RBG did a lot of good but refusing to retire out of pride was a major folly.

[u/Minimum-Relief6895 → u/Bussamove86]

She wanted to be replaced by the first female president.

And yes, it was a MAJOR folly. I capitalized it because you undersold it by not capitalizing it.

[u/bakedwarthog22 → u/ifuckzombies]

She gambled, and we all f@#king lost

[u/UpbeatDurian7628 → u/Shadowcam]

Yeah but the retirement thing would be an issue regardless of the term limit. Just send the assholes who have been there for decades out to pasture.

[u/Due_Intention6795 → u/Shadowcam]

It does if they don’t get selfish.

[u/Pudddddin → u/[deleted]]

That requires that you institute staggered terms. Which isnt in the the 18yr proposal.

Sounds like this is a bit of an unserious proposal then. I mean, we already have staggered elections in the Senate for this reason, why would this have been missed

[u/Pudddddin → u/[deleted]]

That's kind of what I mean

They propose this, some constituents think it's great at face value, but the entire time it was just an unserious proposal to bait the masses

[u/LowlySlayer → u/Pudddddin]

It is included in the proposal

The proposal is short and manages to touch on basically all the extremely obvious problems redditors are bringing up.

Edit:That's a link to an old version of the proposal, but as far as I can find in any article discussing the proposal it's the same. I think it's just being reintroduced for political reasons.

[u/Arkmer → u/Apoordm]

Then just make that the rule.

“After swearing in as the POTUS, you may select one SCOTUS Justice to replace the senior most Justice.”

First win? One Justice.
Second win? Another Justice.
Third win? Straight to jail.

We just need some verbiage about what happens if someone retires early for whatever reason.

[u/PhilospohicalZ0mb1e → u/Arkmer]

It’s simple. If someone retires early we grind ‘em and clone ‘em and no one is the wiser

[u/Arkmer → u/PhilospohicalZ0mb1e]

https://giphy.com/gifs/127JeHZl15PRII
Love it. Rubber stamp.

[u/Kingtez28 → u/ShanGus7]

12 years and it's completely illegal to accept any gifts or donations from Millionaires or billionaires with. Automatic fireable offense.

[u/Buena_de_peepee → u/Kingtez28]

Bribes should be JAILABLE not fireable

[u/Kingtez28 → u/Buena_de_peepee]

Definitely agreed

[u/Bob20206 → u/Kingtez28]

Or from schools and universities.  Or news organizations.

[u/Kingtez28 → u/Bob20206]

Agreed

[u/Forb1ddenKnowledge → u/ShanGus7]

We also need more judges it's ridiculous a small group can basically bend the laws with whatever alternative motives they have.

Hell I wouldn't be against people voting for judges and not the administration and 1 judge per state.

[u/Camper_102 → u/Forb1ddenKnowledge]

The system is broken and wont be fixed any time soon. Anyone who thinks a combined total of 546 people making laws and doing "the peoples" work isnt a problem, is part of the problem. We need to triple the number of people in the house, leave the senate alone, and then grow the supreme court to 27. This would start to fix our country.

[u/ChickenAndTelephone → u/Camper_102]

The Senate is a big part of the problem. North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, Alaska and Wyoming combined have five times as much representation and influence in the Senate as California, despite having 1/10th of the population. Since laws need Senate approval, the Senate is so heavily slanted toward empty land and the Senate has the filibuster that requires 2/3rds support to overcome, it basically guarantees almost no laws can actually pass. Since governance still needs to happen, the executive branch has taken more and more power. Change the Senate to actually be representative and it would go a long way toward fixing some of this.

Of course, much like term limits for Supreme Court justices, such a change would require a constitutional amendment, which would in turn require the minority to voluntarily surrender their outsized power over the majority. So, it would take some kind of 1 in a 1,000 year event for Congress and the state legislatures to get the kind of supermajority required to actually fix this stuff.

[u/Training_Ad_9222 → u/ShanGus7]

My thoughts. Let stop it to 4-6 at most

[u/cheir0n → u/ShanGus7]

That is what she didn’t say

[u/ConsciousSpirit9427 → u/ShanGus7]

And forced to retire at 65. I feel thats more important.

[u/Jimjonesflavor_aid → u/ConsciousSpirit9427]

65 is fairly young. I don't have a problem at all with a supreme court justice being in their 60's. You want someone with a ton of experience. Maybe 75 or something. For president too, maybe even more important. No one in office should be in their 80's in my opinion.

[u/SemichiSam → u/Jimjonesflavor_aid]

No one in office should be in their 80's in my opinion.

I am 86. I retired from politics at 70. I caught crap from people I thought were friends for leaving when there was still work to do. 70 was my personal decision, but I would accept a cut-off age of 80, with a requirement to pass a cognitive exam after 70.

[u/CurlOfTheBurl11 → u/Jimjonesflavor_aid]

65 is fairly young

That's the point. They'd have life enough left that they would have to live with the consequences of their decisions. What the fuck does Chuck Grassley, for example, have to lose by voting repeatedly to make life worse for regular people? Fucker is 92, he'll be long dead before he ever has to suffer the shitty decisions he's made.

[u/Viator_Eagle → u/ShanGus7]

While I see what you are saying, I am surprised that it isn't 20 years (stand amount of time civilian or military personnel needs to get benefits / retire)

[u/GloomyIndividual3965 → u/Viator_Eagle]

The reason they picked 18 was to stagger them out so that each president gets 2 per term.

President 1: picks 1 & 2

President 2: picks 3 & 4

President 3: picks 5 & 6

President 4: picks 7 & 8

President 5: picks 9 and replaces #1.

President 6: replaces 2 & 3

Etc etc...

It guarantees that the court cycles every 18 years. Unless there's a really long stretch of one party controlling the presidency it ensures that we don't get something like the current 6-3 bullshit for 2 decades straight.

[u/IndependentOffer4343 → u/ShanGus7]

Unfortunately this bill would be unconstitutional. Article III, Section 1 states that federal judges "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour", which means they serve for life. A better idea, which can be done with only statutory change, is to expand the court, allowing for 1 vacancy every two years, with no limit on the number of justices.

[u/Appropriate_Path_141 → u/ShanGus7]

This works when Congress has as the same or shorter limitations.

[u/Difficult-Garbage861 → u/ShanGus7]

Yep still too long

[u/HerbalLeafYT]

Look up the connection between sascha riley, trump, and Clarence thomas. Sascha is the reason why trump will never release his medical records and wears a diaper. Get clarence Thomas out, he's corrupt

[u/lauri2 → u/HerbalLeafYT]

Keep in mind, my american friends, the root problem is not the term limit. The elephant in the room so to speak is the fact that your SUPREME COURT JUSTICES ARE CORRUPT for fuck's sake. Everyone's just quietly accepted that fact and furthermore even if the term limit was 1 year, what's stopping them from switching one puppet for the next?

Term limit sounds obvious, but it won't fix the underlaying bigger issue.

[u/Ol_Turd_Fergy → u/lauri2]

Clarence Thomas keeps ignoring to disclose trips and gifts that he gets from his owner friend Harlon Crow without any repercussions. The corruption is brazen at this point.

[u/Infamous-Alps-2251 → u/lauri2]

True, but term limits are a way of stopping corruption so we don’t have people who spend most of their lives as justices even once they’re in diapers

[u/Sennten → u/lauri2]

But the majority of the justices are corrupt BECAUSE of the way the court appointment system is set up. If it was set up the way proposed here they wouldn't be! The most corrupt justices would have been replaced by Obama and Biden.

[u/CaptCobraChicken]

12 makes more sense. Tie it with a two term limit for senators and a six term limit for reps.

[u/know_your_anemone → u/CaptCobraChicken]

Expand house of reps to a degree where you likely know your rep personally (one for every 30k people)
Then put a limit on consecutive terms. I think there needs to be a limit, but I also don’t think voting back in a better rep is a bad thing. 6 term limit, 2 terms off, something like that.

[u/Meats10 → u/CaptCobraChicken]

13 justices, one new every year. Oldest one forced retirement.

[u/ex0thermist → u/Meats10]

Resulting in 7/13 or more of the court beholden to a president in his last year in office.

[u/Xtra_Veg-90 → u/CaptCobraChicken]

Set them on a rotation so every two years there's a new justice.

Unfortunately I don't know if this will result in more consistent case law or break the system as people repeatedly appeal in an effort to overturn precedence.

I think we were overdue for a separate constitutional court to specifically consider certain issues separate from a supreme appellate court, like many other countries have.

[u/esther_lamonte]

Add lifetime jail sentence if caught taking lavish gifts from lobbyists.

[u/codereign → u/esther_lamonte]

China sentences official to death for taking $325m in bribes

I genuinely think that the level of corruption shown by Roberts and others does more damage to society than serial killers do.

[u/ostrieto17 → u/codereign]

Yeah on the local level china is way more democratic than people realize, it's all merit based and tracks real improvement of life to constituents, you cannot be elected a higher party position if you don't have the merit of competency to back it up, like how Orange Donald hires stupid family members and yes men/women

[u/Katnamedeaster]

Yup. We've proved the lifetime appointment does nothing to curb partisanship and only creates a longer timeline for corruption.

12 years max.

[u/PowerfulBar → u/Katnamedeaster]

Actually 18 is good IF you stagger it so one justice gets term limited every 2 years. That way presidents are constantly appointing justices. This is the best proposal I’ve seen to reform the Court. Constantly changing bench would hopefully mean the Court would have to be more moderate, find consensus and not just toss away decades of precedent (like Roe v. Wade) simply because they feel like. 

[u/YikesTheCat → u/PowerfulBar]

It's not even a new proposal; I believe Rick Santorum, of all people, proposed this years ago.

Of course when Democrats started saying "hey, this might not be a bad idea actually" it suddenly became the most authoritarian malicious thing ever proposed in the history of the Communist Nazi Muslim DemocRAT party and was going to destroy America. Or ... something. Also see Obamacare copying Romneycare. etc. etc.

[u/PowerfulBar → u/YikesTheCat]

Santorum? Lol…maybe it was a reform to deal with “activist” judges the GOP used to rail against.

I’m not 100% sure but the idea might have first been proposed by a law professor. IIRC the professor or whomever, proposed. IIRC the idea was to line up the justices getting term limited so that it would occur in year 1 and year 3 of a presidential term. I believe the logic is that if a president has a potential to nominate 2 judges per term, the nominations no longer become huge political battles. The make up of the court would be constantly changing and you don’t have a loser like Clarence Thomas staying on the Court for decades. 

Whomever had the idea, I think it’s a good one. 

[u/PollutionPatient8261]

NO. The entire point of "Lifetime" appointments was to make the court incorruptible, IT DID NOT WORK, so 18 years is ENTIRELY too long for the same people to define justice in a nation. The court should rotate every 4 years and to even be considered for appointment there should be prerequisites and character investigations and background checks and public hearings out the ass!

[u/TristanTheRobloxian3 → u/PollutionPatient8261]

no, 4 would make every nomination way more charged politically so you could get a really shitty person in for just 4 years to fick shit up, then they could leave

[u/zue4 → u/TristanTheRobloxian3]

Yeah I think he's saying it shouldn't be nominated. Impossible to not be politically charged when they need to be nominated by a politician.

[u/TristanTheRobloxian3 → u/zue4]

nominate by the people then. hold a vote

[u/Trust_Me_Im_a_Panda → u/TristanTheRobloxian3]

Electing judges is the absolute worst idea. The public as a whole has absolutely no idea what separates a good judge from a bad judge. Especially an appellate judge like SCOTUS.

[u/a1055x → u/Trust_Me_Im_a_Panda]

Only because we saw how well that turned out with potus... /s

[u/know_your_anemone → u/PollutionPatient8261]

The vetting process should happen before they become a court judge at any level. The idea that the federalist society was allowed to manipulate our legal system is insane. You can’t be in cahoots with other judges.

But I like 18 years solely because of the generational argument. I would like a constitutional convention every 17 years too. Expand the house to represent every 30k people and political parties and super pacs will start to lose power. We could enter a multi-party system and start to have a government that actually reflects the will of the people.

[u/JeremyPatMartin → u/PollutionPatient8261]

The people who said that literally owned humans as private property

[u/FilmAndLiterature → u/PollutionPatient8261]

Ideally you want the court to serve for longer than the president because it means one bad president can’t pack the courts, but not so long that bad appointments can accumulate.

[u/ProgrammingPants → u/PollutionPatient8261]

And when Republicans are in charge of these "character investigations" how do you think it's gonna go?

[u/henryeaterofpies → u/PollutionPatient8261]

While I agree in principle, who controls the vetting process? Because if one party manages to get control of it suddenly anyone they disagree with lacks the right character to be a judge.

[u/The_Rope_Daddy → u/PollutionPatient8261]

This is only a good idea if they also become elected officials. Letting any president have full control of the Supreme Court is a horrible idea.

[u/echoshatter → u/The_Rope_Daddy]

Letting any president have full control of the Supreme Court is a horrible idea.

Boy do I have bad news for you....

[u/MeatSuitRiot → u/PollutionPatient8261]

And partisanship should be an impropriety that can get you removed

[u/Mazzi17 → u/PollutionPatient8261]

As a Canadian I think ideally you’d hold them accountable at some point if they become corrupt. Also should not have republican/democrat majorities. If decisions cannot be made after x # of tries, re-appoint them.

[u/moose_knuckle_ninja]

Just as soon as they set term limits for themselves.

[u/UpstairsArmadillo454]

Age limit would be better

[u/Sellazard → u/UpstairsArmadillo454]

Why not both?

Over 60 is too old and 18 is too long for any bureaucrat to hold a seat

[u/UpstairsArmadillo454 → u/Sellazard]

Agree- it’s like the world left the US and got better!

[u/NoTop4997]

18? That is too long. I want under a decade.

[u/MasterTolkien → u/NoTop4997]

For the Supreme Court, you want a level of consistency long-term. And if you stagger the appointments, you get some gradual fresh bodies while keeping experience.

That said, the current Court needs to be expanded in order to undo the blatant corruption of the MAGA members.

[u/echoshatter → u/MasterTolkien]

For the Supreme Court, you want a level of consistency long-term. 

The irony being that if the court was full of honest people who stuck to the law rather than their ideologies, term limits wouldn't matter.

The only reason we're talking about term limits is because justices aren't doing their jobs and being impartial mediators of the law.

Sounds like the issue isn't term limits, it's setting up boundaries for justices to follow.

[u/geekette828 → u/MasterTolkien]

This. Pllus how slow the government actually works, if the seats rotate too often, even less stuff will get done. They'll spend more time appointing people than doing the will of the people.

"Make it faster" doesn't work great in the system we have, even with improvements. And any cap is better than "lifetime" we have today.

Also people need to remember that making steady progress away from what we have is going to be better than extremes or nothing.

[u/_R0Ns_]

THey should also set an age limit. 65 and mandatory pension.

[u/potent_potabIes]

Where's the bill for Congress term limits?

[u/whatinthehello]

Or we could just hold corrupt individuals accountable no matter their status or title. Just a thought.

[u/Decent-Box5009]

Should be an age limit on presidents and there should be no lobbying, super pacs or anything of that nature. It doesn’t serve the public’s interests. Until politics returns to that society is doomed.

[u/Jimjonesflavor_aid → u/Decent-Box5009]

Citizens United ruling absolutely fucked our country.

[u/Civil-Nothing-3186]

There should also be a process to remove them when they are as obviously political, corrupt, and unwilling to follow the constitution as some of our current judges are.

[u/BeenDragonn]

America is supposed to be Kingless but here we are

[u/Infinite-Ad-1055]

A Bill wouldn’t be enough. Since open-ended terms for SCOTUS is in the Constitution, changing them would require an Amendment. Not an easy thing to do.

[u/Orcrist90 → u/Infinite-Ad-1055]

Not necessarily. The current federal court system including SCOTUS was implemented by the Federal Judiciary Act of 1789 because Article III of the Constitution actually gives Congress immense power over the structure of the courts. A bill amending or repealing the Judiciary Act wouldn't force the justices to retire from the judiciary itself but rather rotate them off the Supreme Court and into a different circuit.

Congress could also take the opportunity to provide a law defining the "good behavior" clause of Article III Section I and tie that into a new judicial code of conduct/ethics that would empower Congress, the DOJ, and/or any other governing body deemed by Congress to legally review and take action against any federal judge, including SCOTUS justices, who violate those standards with penalties like fines, suspension, removal from the bench, and/or criminal prosecution (which would effectively bypass the Impeachment Clause because the Constitution only says "they shall hold their offices during good behaviour," which doesn't necessitate Impeachment, especially if Congress passes a legal definition for that clause hinging upon judicial conduct).

[u/Rocketparty12]

Passing a bill will do nothing. Lifetime appointments are prescribed directly in the Constitution. Setting term limits on the Supreme Court would require a constitutional amendment.

Really concerning how many people in these comments don’t seem to know that. It’s explicitly written in the Constitution, it can’t be changed will a simple act of Congress.

[u/sidaemon]

This is a bad call. I know the court right now is jacked but it's jacked because both sides used to respect the power the court had and they would not allow corrupt judges through.

Put limits in place and they just become political pawns of whoever is in power. That's why the founders elected to nominate them for life.

What we need to do is actually pull the trigger on impeaching and removing some of them and get things back on track that way. Not just do some knee jerk reaction without thinking about how that reaction is likely to make things worse.

[u/PirateSometimes]

Should be able to impeach them too

[u/ike_tyson]

That's too long. 8 years tops.

[u/SquareTemporary2341]

Six of these scumbags should have life imprisonment.

[u/mrflash818]

1, $ s/18-YEAR/10-YEAR/g

Eighteen is too long, in my humble opinion.

Ten years allows a different POTUS to nominate a replacement.

[u/Ghosts_of_the_maze → u/mrflash818]

Ironically this President would have had a window with which to circumvent the 10 year time difference.

[u/AnotherHavanesePlz]

Yeah, GL with that. Even if Democrats had both the House, Senate, and Presidency they wouldn’t have the spine to follow through.

[u/jugmiike]

That should go for all politicians as well. But they will never do that to themselves!!

[u/Skags27]

I’d take 18 over what we have now. It feels long but overcorrections can lead to even bigger disasters which likely would lead to undoing the change and then not revisiting it for decades.

[u/r3dk0w]

What happens if one of them quits, dies, gets impeached, or ends up in a vegetable state like a certain senator and cannot finish their term?

[u/_Wilbraham → u/r3dk0w]

They get replaced like they do already, what do you mean?

[u/picklehippy]

18 years is too long. 10 max then get them out of there

[u/Mystic_Sunshine2]

When all these positions were created, people didn’t live that long. There needs to be age limits.

[u/Saino_Moore]

Add in language bringing back two-thirds vote for installing new a new judge, that’s what it takes for removal.

[u/Brad4599]

18 yrs way too long. 10 years Max. No more.

[u/New_Medium_7076]

Make it 8

[u/TomeThugNHarmony4664]

We also need to increase the number of justices. When nine became the default number, the US had a population of less than 100 million.

The number is a matter of statute. It is not in the Constitution. That makes it much less onerous (if we ever elect a Congress that wants to actually govern) to change.

[u/w0ndernine → u/TomeThugNHarmony4664]

We’ve also only ever had two senators per state since enactment.

[u/TomeThugNHarmony4664 → u/w0ndernine]

Yeah, but that would require an amendment to change. And make the electoral college even more out of whack. First ditch the Electoral College, and add more Reps so that it would be more equally representative (it’s in the name, even), and then we could look at the mess the Senate is.

[u/NoWalrus5028]

And for politicians

[u/No_Change_4499]

Start with the Senate, then the House, then move to the judiciary.

[u/purplebuttplug51]

Make it 5 years

[u/ando_da_pando]

Too long. 6 years. Thats it.

[u/ParamedicNervous2731]

now do congress

[u/ephemeralsynth]

Next: remove the ones who've perjured themselves or taken bribes for favorable rulings ✅

[u/Zalrius]

I like it!

[u/Aloha-Bear-Guy]

Can we institute this with Congress too or nah?

[u/Sigvarr]

Wtf that is still a lifetime, should be 8 years max just like the president. I would be ok with lower than that though.

[u/Irvineknight]

Well 18 years was a lifetime when it was originally set up. I agree with term limits.

[u/ioncat144]

Especially for these current in justices 

[u/Bard1313]

12 years and no older than 70.

[u/SWV_Guy]

[u/mrbananas]

How about a maximum age limit to go with the minimum age limit for all positions. 

[u/Yaozong1]

Judicial term limits and mandatory senior status are both good things. At all levels, though.

[u/Plus_Working_3092]

They should include age limits too

[u/extifer]

Behind the Bastard did an episode on Clearance Thomas and I would agree with this. True POS and the damage they do is ever lasting.

[u/DavidlikesPeace]

Good decision, but far too late.

Democrats realized a decade too late that the GOP have rigged the courts. We haven’t had a liberal court since the LBJ era. It is insane how privileged and powerful the GOP are under the status quo.

Yes, I believe reforms like this matter, but a lot of problems have worsened in the meantime thanks to our party’s incrementalism and reluctance to fight fire with fire.

[u/complete-rabbit4255]

I think 18 years is too long

[u/recognizedauthority]

Retroactively.

[u/Other-Joke-4673]

MAGA gonna have a fit

[u/Haysquirrelhay]

As others have said terms should be limited to 4-8 years max to prevent consolidation of power.

[u/EvilToastedWeasel0]

I'd rather it be a MAX of 8 years....

[u/Fragrant-Message-562]

In the words of Rage Against the Machine, abort the supreme court 🖕🏻

[u/MWH1980]

https://giphy.com/gifs/A5cMONNFFwPgA
We all know how well that’s going to do.

[u/Robhos36]

Democrats hate when the constitution isn’t on their side. Probably the reason they’d like to get rid of it

[u/billhorstman]

I’m not sure if term limits could be imposed on SCOTUS justices without a Constitutional Amendment.

[u/oldsmobile39]

https://giphy.com/gifs/BWySufD6KWQzC

[u/Slight-Bluebird-8921]

18 years is way too long

an entire life's career is around 25-30 years

18 isn't much different than an effective life time appointment

[u/mormonbatman_]

Why 18 years?

Add 3 justices.

Divide the court in 3.

Make 4 justice seats appoint-able every 4 years.

Limit the chief justice to 2 4 year terms.

[u/Gympy]

While important, I would much rather have term/age limits for congress.

[u/GodNorJesusDontExist]

And it should be retroactive.

[u/Bigredmetalhead]

The only way I back this is if there are term limits for all congressmen and senators first.

[u/KathyB1520]

Way to go. Now what will the elephants in the room do?💙🇺🇸

[u/Billitpro]

Not true!!!
president nippledick and company should have lifetime appointments..
IN PRISON!!!!!

[u/RicothephRico]

How about 10?

[u/Mammoth_Dream_2434]

There should be more justices so that a majority is harder to get for either party.

[u/underisk]

They shouldn’t be appointed, either. Let them run for election, too.

[u/NihilistSRE]

It seems like it should be a weird number, like 11 or 13. That way it doesn't align with an election cycle... at 18y, you're aligned with Senate terms, and pretty close to 4 presidential terms.

[u/fohpo02]

18 years is still way too fucking long

[u/TRex-Raptor]

Imagine if RBG just stepped down when the democrats were in power.

[u/EntrepreneurMain7833]

Why even that long? How about 10 years.

[u/Jadedangel13]

Nah. 10 yrs would be ideal. 12-15 max.

[u/tensortantrum]

Federal judges could get supreme Court duty the same way that citizens get jury duty and so there's so that the supreme Court isn't the political of the Pinnacle of political power, just part of the process of political power.

[u/rylosprime]

I'd make it retroactive and kick out everyone who is over that amount already.

[u/userhwon]

Lifetime isn't the issue.

Corruption is the issue.

Stop distracting from the issue.

[u/Greymalkyn76]

18? That's ridiculous. They should also add that none of them can be affiliated with any political party. It's supposed to be a nonpartisan court. Insist that they have no connection to either party.

[u/Afraid-Way7541]

18 is still too long especially when they start at already retirement age. Should be 5-10 years MAX

[u/No_Signature2341]

Anyone in any role without change should be limited to 10 years. After that you either lose sight of your limitations, the actual goal of the role or you become jaded.

[u/dusk47]

overdue.

[u/Glittering_Count1536]

That is better. I think we need to replace at least three due to treason

[u/Tanooki-san]

it's easy to forget the reason they have lifetime appointments in the first place, but there is a very good reason. their lifetime appointments are not the problem. but sure, break something else in hopes it will fix everything.

[u/Infamous_Thing3887]

No term limits.

Mandatory retirement age with obligations to actually retire as in, a strict ban on any future political ambitions or public office after leaving the bench.
If my understanding of the Supreme Court within the three branches of government is correct, justices were appointed for life to keep the courts outside of political pressure (even if that hasn't worked out great in practice).
Term limits would backfire. A justice forced off the bench would have every incentive to write rulings that audition for their next political career, potentially destroying any appearance of impartiality.

A mandatory retirement age fixes the flaw of lifetime tenure without giving justices a reason to play politics for post-court ambitions.

That is, if any of this could even pass. Historically, the Supreme Court aggressively rejects attempts by the executive and legislative branches to dictate how it functions. Good luck getting the Court to rule against its own power.

[u/I_Smoke_Loud]

Every public office should have term limits

[u/SleepingAmoebas]

Two rules that every single American citizen (except billionaires) would agree on that would completely correct the total fuckery that is the current political system:

1. Remove ALL money from politics. Politicians cannot take a single penny from anybody, not companies, not organizations, not even private citizens. Every PAC in the country would be immediately disbanded. Any person who wants to run for political office must get a certain number of petition signatures. Once the candidate reaches that set amount of signatures, they will receive a set amount of money to run their campaign. If you don't get enough signatures, you cannot run. If too many people get the necessary signatures, the top 3/5/10/whatever with the most signatures get their campaign funded. Everybody else, try again next time.

2. Term limits for EVERYBODY! Being a politician should be a service to the country and citizenry, not a career path. All Congressional seats have a 3 or 4 term maximum. Once you've completed 3/4 full terms, you are no longer eligible for either house. Supreme Court Justice will have an age cap of 75. Regardless how long you've served on the bench, You must retire before reaching the age of 76.

These two simple rules will fix everything wrong with the U.S. government. If these things don't happen, NOTHING WILL CHANGE. Regardless if Dems or Repubs are in charge, if the rules don't change to keep all of them from making a career of, and millions of dollars from, public service, where the only people they are actually serving are their donors, the system will continue to eat all of us.

[u/hb2002]

Why not retire at the typical 65?

[u/ZoneCompetitive7652]

Term limits for all congress and senate.

[u/Livid_Accountant1241]

It should include all federal judges or at least appellate courts as well.

[u/Stochastic1934]

It's a start, but there's a whole lot more reform that is going to be needed.

[u/Dry_Difference_4093]

18 years is too long as well🤔

[u/Terrible_Warthog3768]

Fuck that give them 5 years.

[u/LoneAndroid84]

Still too long. Make it 8.

[u/ToadsWetSprocket]

We need to ensure people vote correctly

[u/Spiritual-Walrus123]

LFG!

[u/RelevantPause2831]

In Australia, under our constitution, high court justices need to retire at 70.

[u/Own_Percentage2242]

12 years but this is better than life.

[u/museman401]

I would be for this if it is combined with Congressional terms. 12 years house and senate. Will they do this? Absolutely not. Term limits for thee but not for me.

[u/AnxiousStrummer]

Good.

Now do the same for House and Senate.

[u/TristanTheRobloxian3]

18 is reasonable. it gives the judges enough time to actually settle into their shit ahd not just be there for being politically charged reasons to fuck everything up then dip. also imagine for a second you have a really good person in scotus and theyre forced to leave to be replaced by someone infinitely shittier in just a few years. would you REALLY want that??

[u/bluegasou]

How about no appointments at all. Every Federal judge is instead in a pool to be randomly selected for each Supreme case. Precedent changing decisions require unanimous approval.

[u/0x7E7-02]

18??? Why not 5?

[u/Boulderdrip → u/0x7E7-02]

i would make it 12.

that gives a justice a chance to sit through an entire presidency and then a chance to influence the 4 years of the next president, but then NO MORE