Democrats prepare bill limiting U.S. Supreme Court justice terms to 18 years

[BDinPutnam]

Agree on the age limit.
The founders would have been against sick and decrepit judges that can't stay awake struggling on until they succumbed to old age or disease.

I dont.

Different people age differently.

By the way if you applied this to POTUS neither Trump nor Biden would be eligible so maybe not the worst thing in the world...

 

[Phazer]

Agreed...

No SCOTUS term limits without congressional term limits!

Glad they opened the door!!!

Let's see who's got the balls to propose that one!

ABSOLUTELY!

Term limits all around.

I think that this is something that could be agreed upon for a constitutional amendment, across the aisle, at a Convention of States.

Throw in a balanced budget amendment and we'd really be cooking with gas!

 

[BDinPutnam]

ABSOLUTELY!

Term limits all around.

I think that this is something that could be agreed upon for a constitutional amendment, across the aisle, at a Convention of States.

Throw in a balanced budget amendment and we'd really be cooking with gas!

If we could get bipartisan agreement to a constitutional amendment on stuff like this, we wouldn't need to do it at all because the court would be depoloticized by mutual consent because we would be able to find bipartisan agreement on the issues that are politicizing the court.

 

[Rap]

I don't know about term limits for the SCOTUS. I think I'd prefer age limits. Statutorily forced resignation after a justice reaches their 78th birthday. If their birthday occurs when the court is in session, their resignation will take effect at the end of that session.

Of course, this is all unlikely, but something like that would come right after term limits for the legislature in my personal constitutional reform wish list.

Smacks of ageism. Not all brains deteriorate at the same rate...
Term limits I could get with. Factoring in the person's age prior to their appointment/election would have to be part of the decision making process.

 

[SonOfSun]

Term limits wont fix anything. All it does is change the players, not the game.

 

[Xae289]

Smacks of ageism. Not all brains deteriorate at the same rate...
Term limits I could get with. Factoring in the person's age prior to their appointment/election would have to be part of the decision making process.

I pegged it roughly to the current average life expectancy in the U.S. All age limits are ageist, yet they're all over the place and work generally when talking averages. The average 16 year old is too stupid and inexperienced to vote, but you can't say there aren't exceptional 16 year olds out there who are much smarter and who know more about how the world works than plenty of 22 year olds. Maybe it's unfair to those individuals, but unless we're willing to apply a finer filter like some sort of test you have to pass (and who writes and administers that test?), then it's a good rough and fairly impartial system. There's a minimum age to hold most offices in the federal government. I don't see it as a controversial position to say most people are too young, inexperienced, and don't have enough skin in the game yet to hold certain responsibilities. By the same token, I think it's just as fair to say that most people have passed the peak of their faculties by a certain age and shouldn't be allowed to cling to their office.

In any case, I'm not saying term limits are a terrible solution. I think they're another reasonable solution, but my reasoning above is why I would prefer an age maximum.

 

[Acer-m14]

after a certain age ,, a IQ and Mental test ??

 

[BDinPutnam]

I pegged it roughly to the current average life expectancy in the U.S. All age limits are ageist, yet they're all over the place and work generally when talking averages. The average 16 year old is too stupid and inexperienced to vote, but you can't say there aren't exceptional 16 year olds out there who are much smarter and who know more about how the world works than plenty of 22 year olds. Maybe it's unfair to those individuals, but unless we're willing to apply a finer filter like some sort of test you have to pass (and who writes and administers that test?), then it's a good rough and fairly impartial system. There's a minimum age to hold most offices in the federal government. I don't see it as a controversial position to say most people are too young, inexperienced, and don't have enough skin in the game yet to hold certain responsibilities. By the same token, I think it's just as fair to say that most people have passed the peak of their faculties by a certain age and shouldn't be allowed to cling to their office.

In any case, I'm not saying term limits are a terrible solution. I think they're another reasonable solution, but my reasoning above is why I would prefer an age maximum.

Yeah but- I dont want "average" people on the highest court in the land.

 

[Xae289]

after a certain age ,, a IQ and Mental test ??

Not that I don't trust tests to determine who gets to stay in one of the highest offices in the country, it's the people who would develop, administer, and grade those tests that I don't trust.

Yeah but- I dont want "average" people on the highest court in the land.

Haha, true, but not exactly the point. After all, we don't want average senators and presidents either, but still have good reason to bar even exceptional people below a certain age from the office.

Anyway, after seeing how many SCOTUS justices have actually died in office, I really don't see it as much of a problem. Maybe it'll become one if enough justices in the future pull an RBG and try to hang on until a friendly administration, and then it'll be the Americans of that time's problem to not solve and allow to fester.