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From the Washington Examiner: The Harris-Walz campaign at last posted policy positions on its website Monday, proposing a plan that would possibly result in the forced retirement of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas by next year, along with two more Republican-appointed justices before the next decade.
Released a day before Vice President Kamala Harris heads to the debate stage against former President Donald Trump, the policy outline includes so-called commonsense Supreme Court reforms such as “imposing term limits.” It’s unclear how long Harris believes a justice should remain on the high court before he or she would be automatically forced into retirement, and her campaign dedicated more attention and detail on its website toward attacking Trump for the three justices he nominated during his single term in office.
“Donald Trump handpicked members of the United States Supreme Court to take away reproductive freedom — and now he brags about it,” the campaign wrote, according to a section on her website under “Restore And Protect Reproductive Freedoms.”
However, Harris’s campaign has reportedly indicated her position is “aligned” with a more detailed plan to replace at least three Republican-appointed justices by 2029, according to a statement from her ally Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) to the Dispatch last month.
The report notes that Whitehouse’s Senate Bill 3096, also known as the Supreme Court Biennial Appointments and Term Limits Act, which would impose 18-year term limits for justices despite sitting lawmakers in Congress facing no such limits. The legislation calls for presidents to nominate and the Senate to confirm a new justice to the Supreme Court every two years, the report states.
“They have not gone so far as to say, ‘We endorse your bill.’ They have said that your bills are precisely aligned with what we are talking about,” Whitehouse said of the Harris campaign.
The Washington Examiner notes that if Whitehouse’s bill becomes law under a Harris administration, Harris could eliminate two conservatives Supreme Court Justices during her first term: She could oust Justice Thomas in 2025, and Chief Justice John Roberts in 2027.
If Harris won a second term, she would be able to use the law to replace Justice Samuel Alito, author of the 2022 decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, by 2029.
NEW: Harris embraces Supreme Court term limits that could retire Thomas by 2025
While her new proposals were vague, Democratic ally Sen. Whitehouse previously said his bill to impose 18-year term limits would “align” with Harris’s plans.https://t.co/vcHhmgH5l4
— Kaelan Deese (@KaelanDC) September 9, 2024
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