Supreme Court Justices are appointed for life by the President. John Paul Stevens served for 34 years when he retired at the age of 90. Steven Breyer retired in 2022 after serving 27 years on the Court; he was 83 years old. Ruth Bader Ginsberg had also served 27 years when she died in office at 87 just two months before the 2020 election. The current Justices’ tenures range from one year (Ketanji Brown Jackson) to 31 years (Clarence Thomas), and ages range from 51 (Amy Coney Barrett) to 74 (Clarence Thomas).
While some people believe that a court where every judge is over 50 does not represent the American population (median age is about 39), the bigger concern is their recent decisions do not reflect the values of the majority of Americans, including on voting rights. Why not?
Politics! When a Justice retires or dies, the current President nominates a replacement which the Senate must approve. When the Senate blocked President Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to replace Antonin Scalia, President Trump was able to appoint replacements for Scalia (Gorsuch), Kennedy (Kavanaugh) and Ginsburg (Barrett). That’s three of the nine Justices nominated by a single President.
The Brennan Center proposes “Staggered 18-year terms would bring regular turnover to the bench. The result would be a Court that better reflects prevailing public values.” Current Justices would be allowed to serve for life (“grandfathered”). “Under this system, justices would sit in staggered terms of active service on the Court, such that a new vacancy would open every two years. Each president would have two, and only two, appointments during a four-year term.” After 18 years of service, Justices would automatically become “senior justices” who would take certain cases from lower courts and fill in when recusals and unexpected vacancies arose on the Supreme Court.
What do you think of the Brennan plan? Check it out at Supreme Court Term Limits.
Sources:
- America is Getting Older, US Census Bureau, June 22, 2023
- Supreme Court Nominations (1789-Present), United States Senate
- The Supermajority – How the Supreme Court Divided America Michael Waldman, 2023
- Supreme Court Term Limits, Brennan Center, Policy Solutions, June 20, 2023