On October 16, 2024, 57 prominent constitutional scholars and retired federal and state judges submitted a letter to congressional leadership endorsing term limits for U.S. Supreme Court justices. The signatories, which include retired federal judges, former state chief justices, and broad swaths of the legal academy, warned of plummeting public confidence in the Court. The letter affirms that Congress has the constitutional authority to pass legislation limiting the justices’ active service on the Court.
Dear Majority Leader Schumer, Minority Leader McConnell, Speaker Johnson, and Minority Leader Jeffries:
We are constitutional scholars and retired judges writing to express our support for the adoption of Supreme Court term limits.
It is our considered opinion that Congress has the constitutional authority to establish by statute a system of term limits for justices’ active service on the Supreme Court (after which time members of the Court may continue to serve with limited duties). Congress likewise has the authority to provide for the regular appointment of a new justice to the Court every two years, subject to the advice and consent of the Senate.
While we are not writing to endorse any specific legislation, we believe that Supreme Court term limits are urgently needed at a time of plummeting confidence in the Supreme Court, and that it is within Congress’s constitutional authority to establish a system of Supreme Court term limits through legislation.
Respectfully,
Bruce Ackerman
Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale University
Hon. Harry Lee Anstead (ret.)
Chief Justice, Florida Supreme Court
Hon. Mark W. Bennett (ret.)
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Iowa
Hon. Margot Botsford (ret.)
Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Kevin M. Clermont
Robert D. Ziff Professor of Law, Cornell Law School
Hon. Sue Bell Cobb (ret.)
Chief Justice, Alabama Supreme Court
Wilfred U. Codrington III
Walter Floersheimer Professor of Constitutional Law, Cardozo School of Law
Hon. Patricia O’Brien Cotter (ret.)
Associate Justice, Montana Supreme Court
Hon. Fernande R. V. Duffly (ret.)
Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Garrett Epps
Professor of Practice, University of Oregon
Professor of Law Emeritus, University of Baltimore
Hon. Stanley G. Feldman (ret.)
Chief Justice, Arizona Supreme Court
Caroline Fredrickson
Senior Fellow, Brennan Center for Justice
Hon. Carolyn K. Fulmer (ret.)
Florida Second District Court of Appeal
Hon. Nancy Gertner (ret.)
U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
Tom Ginsburg
Leo Spitz Distinguished Service Professor of International Law, University of Chicago Law School
Hon. Thelton Henderson (ret.)
U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
Hon. Geraldine Hines (ret.)
Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Hon. Faith S. Hochberg (ret.)
U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey
Hon. Roderick L. Ireland (ret.)
Chief Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Ted Kaufman
Former U.S. Senator, Delaware
Carlton F.W. Larson
Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law
Hon. Barbara A. Lenk (ret.)
Associate Justice, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Gerald Leonard
Professor of Law, Boston University School of Law
Sanford V. Levinson
W. St. John Garwood and W. St. John Garwood, Jr. Centennial Chair in Law, University of Texas at Austin School of Law
Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin
Ira C. Lupu
F. Elwood and Eleanor Davis Professor Emeritus of Law, George Washington University Law School
Hon. Beverly B. Martin (ret.)
U.S. Court of Appeals, Eleventh Circuit
Hon. A. Howard Matz (ret.)
U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Hon. Carlos Moreno (ret.)
U.S. District Court, Central District of California
Associate Justice, Supreme Court of California
Hon. James C. Nelson (ret.)
Associate Justice, Montana Supreme Court
Norman J. Ornstein
Senior Fellow Emeritus, American Enterprise Institute
Hon. Barbara Pariente (ret.)
Chief Justice, Florida Supreme Court
Michael J. Perry
Robert W. Woodruff Professor of Law Emeritus, Emory University School of Law
Lucas A. Powe, Jr.
Anne Green Regents Chair, University of Texas at Austin School of Law
David Pozen
Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law, Columbia Law School
Hon. Peggy A. Quince (ret.)
Chief Justice, Florida Supreme Court
Hon. James M. Regnier (ret.)
Justice, Montana Supreme Court
Judith Resnik
Arthur Liman Professor of Law, Yale Law School
William Reynolds
Jacob A. France Professor Emeritus of Judicial Process, University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law
Kermit Roosevelt
David Berger Professor for the Administration of Justice, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Mark D. Rosen
University Distinguished Professor, Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Eric Ruben
Associate Professor of Law, SMU Dedman School of Law
James Sample
Professor of Law, Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University
Hon. Shira A. Scheindlin (ret.)
U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York
Eric J. Segall
Ashe Family Chair Professor of Law, Georgia State University College of Law
Cliff Sloan
Professor from Practice, Georgetown University Law Center
Christopher Jon Sprigman
Murray and Kathleen Bring Professor of Law, New York University School of Law
Joan E. Steinman
University Distinguished Professor Emerita, Professor of Law Emerita, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Tech
Nadine Strossen
John Marshall Harlan II Professor of Law Emerita, New York Law School
Hon. Marsha Ternus (ret.)
Chief Justice, Iowa Supreme Court
Laurence H. Tribe
Carl M. Loeb University Professor of Constitutional Law Emeritus, Harvard University
Mark Tushnet
William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law Emeritus, Harvard Law School
Louis J. Virelli III
Professor of Law, Stetson University College of Law
Artemus Ward
Professor of Political Science, Faculty Associate, College of Law, Northern Illinois University
Hon. T. John Ward (ret.)
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Texas
Adam Winkler
Connell Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law
Mary Ziegler
Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law
Hon. Michael D. Zimmerman (ret.)
Chief Justice, Utah Supreme Court
*Titles and affiliations are for identification purposes only.
Signatories added after submission to Congress:
Hon. Janine P. Geske (ret.)
Justice, Wisconsin Supreme Court
