Poll: Majority of Americans support term limits for Supreme Court

Should SCOTUS justices have term limits?

Written by Casey Dawson, Countable News

What’s the story

  • 67% of Americans — 82% of Democrats and 57% of Republicans — support term limits for Supreme Court justices, according to a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Views were similar regarding a mandatory age of retirement for justices.
  • The poll was conducted following multiple high-profile Supreme Court rulings, including the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and remove constitutional protections on abortion. Just over half of poll respondents said they disapproved of the decision and that it made them “angry” or “sad.”
  • According to the poll, 17% of respondents said they have a great deal of confidence in the high court, 39% have only some, and 43% have hardly any. A previous version conducted before the draft court decision was leaked found that 18% said they had a great deal of confidence, 54% said they had only some, and 27% said they had hardly any. The drop in confidence is concentrated among Democrat respondents, while Republican views of the court improved.

Current efforts

  • House Democrats introduced a bill on Tuesday to require term limits for U.S. Supreme Court Justices. The Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization (TERM) Act would establish terms of 18 years in regular active service, after which justices would be moved to senior status.
  • In addition, the bill establishes regular appointments of justices, giving the president the authority to appoint a new justice in the first and third years following a presidential election. If the number of justices falls below nine, the most recent justice to assume senior status is required to fill in.
  • It is unlikely to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold in the Senate. A similar version of the bill was introduced last year. 

The big picture

  • The Constitution does not set term limits for Supreme Court justices, with Article III, Section 1 stating that they may hold their offices “during good behaviour.” This has long been understood to mean that federal judges and Supreme Court justices have lifetime tenure.
  • General consensus among legal experts is that a constitutional amendment would be required to establish term limits for the high court. Some believe legislation could create term limits and move justices to other positions in the court, but no such law has ever been approved or tested.

What do you think?

Should Supreme Court justices have term limits?

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