7 Democrats introduce longshot bill to put term limits on Supreme Court, citing a post-Roe 'legitimacy crisis'

A group of House Democrats introduced a bill that would end lifetime service on the Supreme Court.

Hank Johnson of Georgia is the lead sponsor of the proposal.

By guaranteeing two new appointments in each presidency, the proposal would create a much faster rotation of justices.

Congress and the White House have not shown an appetite for reform of the court.

After the court reversed decades of universal access to abortions in the US, some Democrats want to push back.

New appointments to the court aren't limited to when a justice dies. Each president could appoint two justices per term.

The justices left the court in the order they joined. They would keep their pay and status, but no longer actively serve if another justice became ill.

The bill came in the wake of what Nadler called harmful and out-of-touch rulings.

Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images

There has been a lot of discussion in the Democratic Party about how to deal with the reality of a Supreme Court with a 6-3 majority of conservative justices, three of which were appointed by President Donald Trump.

America is alone among modern constitutional democracies in allowing its high-court justices to serve for decades without term or age limits, resulting in some Presidents appointing no justices and others appointing as much as a third of the Court.

Some people are in favor of term limits. More than 70% of Democratic voters and over 50% of Republican voters are in favor of the idea, according to a YouGov poll. It wasn't specified how long the term was.

A bipartisan group commissioned by the president concluded in December that term limits are a viable method of reform.

Biden opposed expanding the court in June because he didn't think it was a good idea.

Jerry Nadler, David Cicilline, Shelia Jackson Lee, Steve Cohen and Karen Bass are co-sponsors of the bill.

"We must address the crisis currently facing the Court in terms of its legitimacy and the public's confidence in it," Cicilline stated. The court's important role in the constitution is restored by this legislation.

After the draft opinion of the Supreme Court was leaked, a record low of 25% of Americans trusted the court. There was no reason for that lack of confidence.