119-hr1074

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1074 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
 H. R. 1074

 To establish a process by which the appointment of Supreme Court 
 Justices can occur at regular time intervals, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 February 6, 2025

 Mr. Khanna (for himself, Mr. Beyer, Ms. Tlaib, Mr. Casten, Ms. Omar, 
 Mr. Goldman of New York, Mr. Vargas, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, and Ms. 
 Ansari) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

 A BILL

 To establish a process by which the appointment of Supreme Court 
 Justices can occur at regular time intervals, and for other purposes.

 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

 This Act may be cited as the ``Supreme Court Term Limits and 
Regular Appointments Act of 2025''.

SEC. 2. SUPREME COURT TERM LIMITS.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 1 of title 28, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``

Sec. 7. Term limits
 ``The President shall, during the first and third years after a 
year in which there is a Presidential election, nominate, and by and 
with the advice and consent of the Senate, appoint one Justice of the 
Supreme Court.
``

Sec. 8. Senior Justices
 ``

    (a) In General.--Except as provided in subsection
            (c) , the panel 
of justices exercising Judicial power in Cases and Controversies shall 
comprise the nine most junior Justices.
 ``

    (b) Deemed Retired.--After a Justice has served 18 years, that 
Justice shall be deemed a Justice retired from regular active service 
under 

section 371

    (b) .
 ``
            (c) Exception.--No Justice appointed before the date of enactment 
of this Act shall be counted toward the panel of nine Justices 
described in subsection

    (a) , nor shall they be required to retire from 
regular active service under subsection

    (b) .
``

Sec. 9. Waiver of advice and consent authority
 ``If the Senate does not exercise its advice and consent authority 
with respect to a President's nominee to the Supreme Court within 120 
days after the nomination, the Senate shall be deemed to have waived 
its advice and consent authority with respect to such nominee, and the 
nominee shall be seated as a Justice of the Supreme Court.''.

    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 1 of 
title 28, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``7. Term limits.
``8. Senior Justices.
``9. Waiver of advice and consent authority.''.

SEC. 3. SENIOR JUSTICES.

 

Section 294 of title 28, United States Code, is amended--

    (1) by amending subsection

    (a) to read as follows:
 ``

    (a) Any Chief Justice of the United States or Associate Justice 
of the Supreme Court who has retired from regular active service under 

section 371

    (b) of this title shall be known and designated as a Senior 
Justice and may continue to perform such judicial duties as such 
Justice is willing and able to undertake, when designated and assigned 
by the Chief Justice of the United States.'';

    (2) in subsection
            (d) , by striking ``of such court'' and 
 all that follows through ``Supreme Court.'' and inserting: ``of 
 such court, except that any designation or assignment made to 
 the Supreme Court shall be in accordance with subsection

    (e) .'';

    (3) by redesignating subsection

    (e) as subsection

    (g) ; and

    (4) by inserting after subsection
            (d) the following:
 ``

    (e)

    (1) When there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court due to the 
death, disability certification under 

section 372, or removal of a 
Justice, the retired Chief Justice of the United States or Associate 
Justice of the Supreme Court who has most recently become a Senior 
Justice shall be designated and assigned to serve as a Justice until an 
appointment is made under 

section 7 of this title.
 ``

    (2) If there is more than one vacancy on the Supreme Court, the 
Senior Justice who has served in such capacity for the least amount of 
time shall be designated and assigned to serve as a Justice by the 
Chief Justice until each vacancy on the Supreme Court is filled.
 ``

    (f) Any Chief Justice of the United States or Associate Justice 
of the Supreme Court who has retired from regular active service under 

section 372 may not be a Senior Justice.''.

SEC. 4. EXCEPTION TO APPOINTMENT OF A SUCCESSOR.

    (a) Retired Justices.--

Section 371 of title 28, United States Code, 
is amended--

    (1) in subsection
            (d) --
        (A) by striking ``justice or''; and
        (B) by inserting before the period at the end the 
 following: ``or designate a Senior Justice in 
 accordance with 

section 294

    (e) to fill a vacancy 
 resulting from the retirement of a justice under this 
 section''; and

    (2) by adding at the end the following:
 ``

    (f) Any justice of the United States who has served a total of 18 
years as a justice shall be treated as a justice retired from regular 
active service under this section, unless the justice is otherwise 
eligible to retire as a result of a disability under 

section 372.''.

    (b) Disabled Justices.--

Section 372

    (a) of title 28, United States 
Code, is amended in the first sentence, by inserting after ``a 
successor'' the following: ``or, in the case of a justice of the United 
States, fill the vacancy in accordance with 

section 294

    (e) ''.
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