Democrat career politician Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island—who is now serving his 19th year in the U.S. Senate—has introduced a bill that would impose an 18-year term limit.
But this term limit would not apply to members of Congress. It would apply to Supreme Court justices.
"Term limits and regular appointments would make the Court more representative of everyday Americans and help restore the Supreme Court to the proper independent body it was created to be," said Whitehouse, who first entered federal office 33 years ago, when former President Bill Clinton made him U.S. attorney for Rhode Island.
Democrat career politician Richard Blumenthal—who is now in his 15th year in the Senate and whose current term runs until January 2029—joined Whitehouse in sponsoring the Supreme Court term-limit bill. "This legislation is critical to the Supreme Court's survival as an independent branch of government, and its accountability to the American people," Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal's start in federal politics came 57 years ago, when he worked as an aide in the Nixon White House.
Democrat Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.) and Alex Padilla (Calif.) are also sponsoring the Supreme Court term-limit bill. But neither Whitehouse, Blumenthal, Booker, nor Padilla has ever sponsored a bill to impose term limits on members of Congress.
Would these senators have proposed term limits on Supreme Court justices in 1973—when the court issued Roe v. Wade and declared a constitutional right to abortion? Of course not.
Justice William Douglas, nominated by Franklin Roosevelt in 1939, had been on the court for 34 years when he joined the majority in Roe. He continued to serve on the court for two more years after that.
Justice William Brennan, nominated by Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, had been on the court for 17 years when he joined the majority in Roe. He went on to serve 17 more years, for a total of 34.
Justice Potter Stewart, appointed by Eisenhower in 1958, had been on the court for 15 years when he joined the majority in Roe. He went on to serve eight more years, for a total of 23.
Justice Thurgood Marshall, nominated by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967, had been on the court for six years when he joined the majority in Roe. He went on to serve 18 more years, for a total of 24.
Justice Harry Blackmun, nominated by Richard Nixon in 1970, had been on the court for three years when he joined the majority in Roe. He went on to serve 21 more years, for a total of 24.
Liberal Democratic senators did not call for term limits on these justices.
Former President Joe Biden, who served in the Senate for 36 years and chaired the Judiciary Committee for eight years, never proposed term limits on Supreme Court justices during his time in Congress. He did, however, work to block the confirmation of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court and did everything he could—but failed—to block the confirmation of Justice Clarence Thomas.
In 2022, when Biden was president, the court issued its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturning Roe. In 2024, Biden published an op-ed in The Washington Post calling for term limits on justices.
"Term limits would help ensure that the court's membership changes with some regularity," Biden wrote.
"I support a system in which the president would appoint a justice every two years to spend 18 years in active service on the Supreme Court," he continued.
Thomas—who, as noted, Biden failed to block—was one of five justices who voted in Dobbs to overturn Roe. He has now served nearly 35 years on the court. Justice Samuel Alito, who also voted to overturn Roe, has served 20.
Without their votes, Roe would not have been overturned.
And one of the reasons voters elected Republican presidents in the years between Roe and Dobbs was because they hoped those presidents would nominate justices like Thomas and Alito who would vote to overturn Roe—and that eventually there would be at least five of them on the nine-member court.
The summary of the House version of the Supreme Court term-limits bill, which was introduced by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), says: "(T)he bill requires the President to appoint a Supreme Court Justice every two years. If the appointment of a Justice would result in more than nine Justices on the Court, then the nine most junior Justices shall make up the panel of Justices exercising judicial power in cases and controversies. Further, any Justice who has served a total of 18 years is deemed retired from regular service and may continue to serve as a Senior Justice. Senior Justices may continue to perform judicial duties assigned to them by the Chief Justice."
It also says the bill will not apply to justices who were appointed before it became law.
And it never should become law.
Article 3, Section 1 of the Constitution deliberately places no time limit on how long a federal judge or Supreme Court justice may serve. "The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour," it says.
Alexander Hamilton explained in the Federalist Papers why the Framers did this.
"If, then, the courts of justice are to be considered as the bulwarks of a limited Constitution against legislative encroachments, this consideration will afford a strong argument for the permanent tenure of judicial offices, since nothing will contribute so much as this to that independent spirit in the judges which must be essential to the faithful performance of so arduous a duty," wrote Hamilton.
"That inflexible and uniform adherence to the rights of the Constitution, and of individuals, which we perceive to be indispensable in the courts of justice, can certainly not be expected from judges who hold their offices by a temporary commission," he continued.
The Framers and Hamilton were right. Biden, Blumenthal, Whitehouse, Booker and Padilla are wrong.
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