# Plain Language Summary: Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act of 2022

This bill would fundamentally change how Supreme Court justices serve by imposing an 18-year term limit on all future justices and creating a predictable schedule for when new justices are appointed. Currently, Supreme Court justices serve for life or until they choose to retire, which means appointments are unpredictable and can happen whenever a justice dies or steps down. Under this bill, the President would appoint exactly one new justice during the first and third years after every presidential election—meaning there would be a new justice roughly every two years on a fixed schedule. This would replace the current system where a president might appoint zero justices during their entire term or multiple justices if several justices happen to retire around the same time.

For justices already serving on the Court when this bill would take effect, the transition would work differently. Rather than immediately imposing the 18-year limit, current justices would gradually transition to a retired status as new justices are appointed under the new schedule. The justice who has served the longest would be the first to move into a semi-retired status when the first new justice is appointed, then the next-longest-serving justice would do the same when the second new justice arrives, and so on. These semi-retired justices could still hear cases if needed to fill gaps, but they wouldn't be considered active justices anymore.

The practical effect would be that the Supreme Court's composition would become much more predictable and would change more frequently than it does today. Instead of the Court potentially staying the same for decades, it would have guaranteed turnover every couple of years. This would give each president a more regular opportunity to shape the Court's direction through appointments, though it would also mean the Court's ideological balance could shift more often depending on who wins elections.

Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act of 2022

Johnson, Henry C. "Hank"

Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act of 2022 This bill sets an 18-year term limit for Supreme Court Justices.