Gaetz says he'd support raising motion-to-vacate threshold if GOP enacts Democrat’s reform plan
Gaetz says he'd support raising motion-to-vacate threshold if GOP enacts Democrat’s reform plan
Just days after ousting former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) from the top leadership position, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) signaled he’d be willing to raise the threshold for a future motion to vacate — but only if Republicans agree to vote on a number of political reforms.
Have we entered the twilight zone?
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The plan would seek to enact term limits for Congress members and Supreme Court judges, ban congressional stock trading, create a judicial code of ethics for all federal judges and Supreme Court justices, and prohibit candidates running for federal office from accepting donations from lobbyists or political action committees.
You can only do that by constitutional amendment.
I’m not familiar with a constitutional ban on term limits, and the idea has been floated by people at fairly high levels. Where do you think the restriction is, and do you think any limits could apply to new justices even if the currents are grandfathered in?
Not the term limits, the donations. The supreme court already rule via Citizens United that money is free speech, which is how PACs and dark money became legal. So to undo that, either the court has to reverse it (yeah right), or there has to be a constitutional amendment (which even the SC can't overturn).
which even the SC can’t overturn
Technically they can by using torturous logic, but then they'd swiftly be impeached.
The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office.
Unlike for President, Senators, and Representatives, no term is given for Federal Judges, which includes the Supreme Court Justices. They "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour." Once a Federal Judge, always a Federal Judge.
I’m neither a lawyer nor scholar but that wouldn’t seem to preclude term limits or explicitly establish lifetime appointments.
Justices hold it during good behavior, not time limited per the Constitution.
As for members of Congress, a term limit would essentially be adding another qualification to those required by the Constitution.
The Constitutional requirements to be a Representative are:
- at least 25 years of age; (Article I section 2)
- a citizen of the United States for at least seven years prior to being elected; (Article I section 2)
- a resident of the state he or she is chosen to represent; (Article I section 2)
- not having taken part in insurrection or rebellion after taking an oath of federal or state office(14th Amendment)
Term limits would add on another restriction, disqualifying those who'd already served the term. Thus, unconstitutional.
Which is why setting term limits on the office of President required - wait for it - the 22nd Amendment.
Yeah, but they're talking about doing these reforms through regular legislation. I don't think any of them have proposed constitutional amendments to try.
Oh sorry - it may have appeared that I was being snarky towards you. That was not my intent, you are absolutely right. I'm just aggravated by the number of people who think you can "just do things" when you can't.
All good.
How long is the term of a Supreme Court Justice?
The Constitution states that Justices "shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour." This means that the Justices hold office as long as they choose and can only be removed from office by impeachment.
Article 3, Section 2:
In all the other Cases before mentioned, the supreme Court shall have appellate Jurisdiction, both as to Law and Fact, with such Exceptions, and under such Regulations as the Congress shall make.
Because judicial review is inferred (not stated) in the Constitution, and because Congress has explicit permission to regulate the judiciary (including the Supreme Court), Congress can effectively do what they want.
This means that Congress can put a clause stating "this law is not subject to judicial review" and there is literally nothing SCOTUS can do about it. It's a check on SCOTUS. Congress has full power over judicial review.
Congress has tried exercising this clause in the past (to force judicial review to require a 2/3 majority of justices), but it's always died in the Senate.
That can limit their appellate jurisdiction. Congress can't restrict the court's original jurisdiction. A state could sue the federal government over this and as a case where a state is a party, the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction.
But what’s the definition of “Office” in this context? The Office of the President, for example, is defined as a span of four years. President is the title and Office includes both title and time, as do many other political positions.
So what I’m saying is that there’s nothing there that says Congress cannot pass a law saying the Office of a Supreme Court Justice is defined as holding the position for six years.
Because the Constitution specifies term lengths for President, Senators, and Representatives, it is clear that the authors knew when those things needed to be specified. The absence of specifying a term length for Justices means that it is a life term; if the authors had intended there to be a term measured in years, one would have been mentioned.
While I am not a lawyer, I have read enough about intepreting the Constitution to know that that is the very longstanding way to interpret this, and that it is pretty universally accepted.
For the record, I’m playing advocatus diaboli here. I agree that your interpretation is the traditional one.
That said, it has not been challenged, as far as I know, and attributions of original intent (and by now even the application of previous rulings) are the subject of legal argumentation and opinion. My point was that the Constitution does not explicitly set a temporal component to the term of a federal justice, and it does not explicitly forbid one. This it would not take a constitutional amendment to set a term limit, but rather a finding that the law did not violate the constitution (which again would come down to an interpretation since it’s not explicitly set).