TERM LIMITS

What are the opinions of posters regarding term limits.

I propose 1.) an 18 year limit for the Supreme Court, regardless of age when appointed.
2.) an 18 yr limit for Congressmen, regardless of age when elected.
3.) a repeat of the 17th Amendment and a limitation on Senators to 3, 6 yr terms via appointment. Regardless of age when elected by
their respective States Legislatures.

Any thoughts?

The Supreme Court was designed to not have term limits so Justices wouldn't be as influenced by politics. Of course, now many Leftists want to impeach conservative members of the court.

18 years for Congress? You are more generous than me. I would say 12 years for both House members and Senators. Six terms in the House and two terms in the Senate.

I love going back to the legislature electing Senators, although in Colorado, that would mean we would always have Democrat Senators.

The Supremes have before struck down term limits for the House and Senate. I think it would need a constitutional amendment or maybe these Supremes might change their mind.

I have no quarrel with 12/12 limits. The election of a Senator, prior to 1913, was done by the state legislatures without any possibility of a veto by the Governor, thus I disagree with the premise that Colorado would always have democrat Senators. They, our elected representatives, would have to pay more attention to the people that elected them. For example, if the Senate in CO flips then compromise would have to be done. Perhaps, CO would not have a Senator who stated that he did not want to be a Senator.
No question that all of my proposals would have to amend the Constitution. It is not impossible if the will of the people is such, as in the repeal of 18th Amendment (prohibition) by the 21st Amendment.

Being radically here....a DECADE is a huge amount of time to serve, and five years is nice number for term limits for senators...times three. NEW BLOOD,NEW IDEAS,NEW ALLIANCES. (kinda forces movement forward,because the clock is ticking and u r OUT)....If U Care about your legacy and U are vested in results,then these time frames seem ideal.

I do wonder if the House and Senate could get term limits passed themselves. Of course, they would need to Grandfather themselves to get the necessary votes but considering how old so many of them are, that might only equate to one more term in the Senate for many of them.

Here are two interesting comments from wsj.com.5/17/22. I had not thought about the second comment, worth considering:


You have to wonder if term limits would help solve this problem. Maybe legislative process would work better if the focus was on legislation and the business of the country - and not on power consolidation.

Reply

Marc Jones
1 day ago

Actually, term limits have the opposite effect of what most people desire. They end up further empowering the permanent bureaucracy. In the practical sense, it is not the elected officials who run the government. It is the bureaucrats and staffers. The sad fact is, we, the electorate vote people into office and keep them there based on how they look and sound, rather than their abilities to think. Good hair is a vital electoral requirement. Vanity defines those who serve in elective office, not intellect.

To be effective term limits would need to be applied to staffers and senior bureaucrats.

I have also heard the theory that inexperienced congressmen and senators would be taken advantage of by entrenched lobbyists who would effectively write the bills. Except, it already appears that lobbyists are writing the bills. And many of the politicians who would replace the current batch of senior citizen senators and house members usually already have experience with lobbyists they gained from their time in the state legislature.

Along with term limits I would like to see that government employees (this includes Sen and Rep) not be allowed to work as a lobby for a period of time (after leaving govt service) , Off the cuff, I have no particular time limit in mind. Open to suggestions.

never......PROHIBITED would be my choice....conflict of interest (biased). The structure of our gov. needs overhauling in a major way. Our forefathers NEVER intended this "cozy co,operation".. JMO ( if there is a
reference/statement in the constitution PLEASE post, 'cause I could be wrong.)