“A constitutional system based on checks and balances and a society grounded in personal freedom cannot survive if five or six members of the court are allowed to rampage unchecked, with ultimate authority, accountable to no one,” writes Shapiro.
So, what’s the solution?
Shapiro thinks it’s term limits — specifically limiting “Supreme Court justices to 18 years of active service.”
The idea has been catching on in both conservative and liberal legal circles.
Shapiro notes that most other developed countries, and nearly every U.S. state, have judicial term or age limits.
Shapiro believes the best person to advance the idea of term limits without politicizing the court is Chief Justice John Roberts.
Roberts can lead by example by pledging “in September to leave the court in June 2025, after 20 years as chief justice.”
“Readers will scoff at the idea that Roberts, who’ll be only 70 in 2025, would relinquish power.” But there’s precedent for chief justices stepping down and retiring after two decades of service.
“Is it too much to ask that he does something to heal the court and our divided country?”
Read the op-ed at TheHill.com.
