A pair of House Democrats are proposing a bill to put term limits on Supreme Court justices to “rebalance” the tribunal and “stop extreme partisanship” after the Biden administration was dealt consecutive losses in the last week of the term.
Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif and Don Beyer, D-Va. on Monday reintroduced the Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act after the Supreme Court in a 6-3 decision struck down President Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan.
The majority ruled that the plan, which would have canceled over $400 billion in outstanding loan debt, was not authorized by federal law.
“The Supreme Court’s decision to block student debt relief will put many hardworking Americans at risk of default and will be a disaster for our economy,” Khanna said in a statement.
“Our Founding Fathers intended for lifetime appointments to ensure impartiality. The decision today demonstrates how justices have become partisan and out of step with the American public. I’m proud to reintroduce The Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act to implement term limits to rebalance the Court and stop extreme partisanship.”
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The lawmakers noted that since 1980, the cost of college has tripled while federal aid and wages have not kept up. Student debt borrowers today collectively owe more than $1.6 million while a majority of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, they noted.
“For many Americans, the Supreme Court is a distant, secretive, unelected body that can make drastic changes in their lives without any accountability,” Beyer said. “Recent partisan decisions by the Supreme Court that destroyed historic protections for reproductive rights, voting rights and more have undermined public trust in the Court – even as inappropriate financial relationships between justices and conservative donors raised new questions about its integrity”.
Notably, the Court’s majority also ruled in favor of the Biden administration’s arguments in a case dealing with state courts’ authority in elections.
Khanna praised that ruling in a tweet saying, “SCOTUS stood up for free and fair elections in Moore v. Harper, preventing state legislatures from curtailing that.”
Beyer also praised the ruling in a tweet saying it was a “victory for democracy.”
“This is great news,” he said.
President Biden last week warned that progressive efforts to expand the size of the Supreme Court would “politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy.”
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Biden was asked during an MSNBC interview if he was worried that “without court reform, this conservative majority is too young and too conservative, that they might do too much harm?”
“Well, I think they may do too much harm, but I think if we start the process of trying to expand the court, we’re going to politicize it maybe forever in a way that is not healthy, that you can’t get back,” the president replied.
