House Democrats are submitting a bill next week that will limit supreme court picks to just 18 years. The bill was authored by Ro Khanna of California, soon-to-be-former Representative Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts, and Virginia Representative Don Beyer. The bill is in response to the Republican-controlled Senate’s move to confirm Trump’s soon-to-be-announced replacement on the Supreme Court.
From Reuters:
“The new bill, seen by Reuters, would allow every president to nominate two justices per four-year term and comes amid heightened political tensions as Republican President Donald Trump prepares to announce his third pick for the Supreme Court after the death on Sept. 18 of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with just 40 days to go until the Nov. 3 election.
As this bill is likely DOA in the Senate, it is unclear what Democrats think they are going to accomplish with this legislation other than pre-election posturing. There’s no doubt that if the shoe was on the other foot, Democrats would not be submitting such a bill. Additionally, as a result of ex-post-facto rules of the Constitution, it is unlikely that this new law would be applied to any of Trump’s recently nominated and confirmed Judges, nor the judge that is about to be confirmed. Even if such a law was to be passed under a future Congress and signed into law by the next President, ANY challenge brought to the law would likely end up where? The US Supreme Court. Judges would likely shoot down a law that would affect their own time on the court especially judges in the soon-to-be unbreakable conservative majority.
Currently, only the office of President has a term limit, which was changed with the passage of the 22nd Amendment after Franklin Roosevelt had been elected to four terms. Funny that the House Democrats didn’t offer to pass term limits on themselves and their compatriots in the Senate.
This goes to show you that Democrats hate playing by the current rules and when those rules don’t serve them or they lose continually. This is the umpteenth time that Democrats have suggested changing the rules or the Constitution because they have lost. Numerous cries for eliminating the Electoral College and changing Senate Apportionment have been made by Democrats, though the likelihood of amending the Constitution in their favor is highly unlikely. This joins other efforts to “pack the court” a move that would expand the size of the Supreme Court.
