This system isn’t working
With all eyes on the Supreme Court following the leak of a draft opinion regarding abortion, Americans support 69 – 27 percent limiting the number of years a Supreme Court Justice can serve on the Supreme Court, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University national poll of adults released today. There is majority support among all party groups. Democrats (77 – 18 percent), independents (69 – 27 percent), and Republicans (61 – 36 percent) all support limiting how long a Supreme Court Justice can serve.
A majority of Americans (63 percent) say the Supreme Court is mainly motivated by politics, while 32 percent say the Supreme Court is mainly motivated by the law. There are stark divisions along party lines. Democrats say 86 – 11 percent and independents say 63 – 32 percent the Supreme Court is mainly motivated by politics, while Republicans say 53 – 42 percent the Supreme Court is mainly motivated by the law.
Having three justices on the Court under the circumstances by which they were appointed, five of them by men who didn’t win the popular vote, would have delegitimized the court regardless. But the Court’s actions ever since Bush v Gore have been partisan and increasingly radical to the point at which it’s now just another right wing affront to democracy. Republicans have rammed through a super-majority of right wing extremists without regard to precedent, norms or legitimacy. They know the country is changing and the Court is now just another illegitimate tool to undemocratically secure power for themselves.
Term limits are just one way to fix this problem and it isn’t entirely satisfactory. But it’s a start.