Democratic efforts to revamp the Supreme Court gained momentum Thursday as an influential center-left think tank released a plan to limit justices\u2019 terms and misconduct.<\/p>\n

Third Way\u2019s proposal, shared first with Blue Light News, highlights growing unity across the ideological spectrum in the Democratic Party for significant changes to the high court as Americans\u2019 trust in the institution hovers at historic lows<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

The group says it also wants to inject ideas to overhaul the court \u2014 including legislation to set an 18-year term limit and an enforceable ethics code \u2014 into the party\u2019s conversations leading up to the 2028 presidential race.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of those things that we think can and should be a part of the 2028 discussion, and those folks who are running should be asked about whether they would champion Supreme Court reform,\u201d Lanae Erickson, a senior vice president at Third Way, said in an interview.<\/p>\n

Key Democratic groups have increasingly been coalescing around ideas to overhaul the court\u2019s structure and policing in light of accusations of growing partisanship and corruption among justices. In June, a number of key Democratic House caucus leaders, including the Congressional Progressive Caucus, released their own resolution<\/u><\/a> calling for term limits for justices and a code of ethics.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think that the center left has been remiss in not being forward enough on reform proposals that would make our system work better for people, which is why some folks have gone to the further left,\u201d Erickson said.<\/p>\n

Third Way cited public opinion polling from both the Brennan Center for Justice<\/u><\/a> and FOX News<\/u><\/a> indicating more than 70 percent of respondents favored term limits for justices. An 18-year cycle would ensure the appointment of two justices every presidential term.<\/p>\n

The group also wants legislation to hold justices accountable for ethics violations. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said last month<\/u><\/a> he supports \u201cdramatic reform\u201d on the Supreme Court starting with an ethics code so justices don\u2019t act \u201cabove the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The court in 2023<\/u><\/a> adopted its own formal ethics code for the first time in history, but that policy largely lacks some of the teeth that advocates have proposed.<\/p>\n

One idea supported by some Democrats that Third Way is not endorsing: upping the number of justices on the bench. Erickson said that idea seems more like \u201ca mutually assured destruction path,\u201d as parties could go back and forth adding more justices.<\/p>\n

The path forward for any court-focused legislation in Congress in the near future, however, is very slim without majorities in both chambers and control of the White House \u2014 something Third Way acknowledged.<\/p>\n

Still, the group\u2019s recommendations are meant \u201cto show that the center left can also be bold and be addressing systemic problems to appeal to voters and their level of anxiety and anger about what’s happening right now,\u201d Erickson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Democratic efforts to revamp the Supreme Court gained momentum Thursday as an influential center-left think tank released a plan to limit justices\u2019 terms and misconduct. Third Way\u2019s proposal, shared first with Blue Light News, highlights growing unity across the ideological spectrum in the Democratic Party for significant changes to the high court as Americans\u2019 trust […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}