U.S. Senators Propose Constitutional Amendment to Radically Alter Supreme Court

U.S. Sens. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Joe Manchin (I-WV) put forward a resolution on Wednesday calling for a constitutional amendment to institute 18-year term limits for U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) justices.

[RELATED: Lame Duck Biden Pitches SCOTUS Term Limits, End to Presidential Immunity…]

“Taking action to restore public trust in our nation’s most powerful Court is as urgent as it is necessary. Setting term limits for Supreme Court Justices will cut down on political gamesmanship, and is a commonsense reform supported by a majority of Americans,” said Sen. Welch.

“The current lifetime appointment structure is broken and fuels polarizing confirmation battles and political posturing that has eroded public confidence in the highest court in our land,” said Sen. Manchin, a Democrat until he changed his party affiliation earlier this year.

The proposed amendment would not impose term limits on the currently serving SCOTUS justices, but would apply to any newly appointed justices.

The resolution provides for a transition period in which the start of term limits will be staggered so that one SCOTUS seat will eventually be left vacant every two years.

This would give each president the ability to appoint two justices every term.

Manchin and Welch’s proposal would maintain the current nine SCOTUS justices, preventing the proposed “court packing,” which involves adding additional SCOTUS justices to essentially negate the court’s conservative majority.

Democrats began their push for court-packing and SCOTUS term limits after President-elect Donald Trump appointed three SCOTUS justices to lifetime appointments during his first term.

Those justices have been instrumental in thwarting some of President Joe Biden’s most radical initiatives.

The Supreme Court struck down President Biden’s student loan “forgiveness” program last year as unconstitutional, although the Biden administration largely ignored that ruling.

They also blocked Biden from implementing a COVID vaccine mandate for everyone working for companies with over 100 employees.

Manchin and Welch’s proposal mirrors a proposal made by Biden in July, also calling for 18-year term limits for SCOTUS, with two-year staggered vacancies.

As a constitutional amendment, the resolution will have a much higher bar to cross than most proposed legislation.

The amendment will need to achieve a two-thirds majority in both the Senate and the House.

If the amendment clears that high bar, it will then go to the American people, where three-quarters of the states must vote to ratify the amendment in order for it to go into effect.