Mark Levin defines term limits for the Supreme Court in his amendment "An Amendment to establish Term Limits for Supreme Court Justices and Super-Majority Legislative Overrides" in The Liberty Amendments. I believe that this amendment should be ratified separately from the override and thus have extracted the override to three separate amendments.
Section 1-2 is Levin's text. Sections 3-6 is my own proposal.
Text of the Amendment
SECTION 1. No person may serve as Chief Justice or Associate Justice of the Supreme Court for more than a combined total of twelve years.
SECTION 2. Immediately upon ratification of this amendment, Congress shall organize the justices of the Supreme Court as equally as possible into three classes, with the justices assigned to each class in reverse seniority order, with the most senior justices in the earlier classes.
SECTION 3. The terms of office shall be aligned to the terms of Congress and staggered across the terms of the President, such that the following schedule results:
SUBSECTION a. In the first Presidential term following the ratification of this amendment, the term of office for the justices in the First Class shall expire at the end of the term of Congress coinciding with the first half of the term of the President and commence at the beginning of the subsequent session of Congress.
SUBSECTION b. In the second Presidential term following the ratification of this amendment, the term of office for the justices in the Second Class shall expire at the end of the term of Congress coinciding with the first half of the term of the President and commence at the beginning of the subsequent session of Congress.
SUBSECTION c. In the third Presidential term following the ratification of this amendment, the term of office for the justices in the Third Class shall expire at the end of the term of Congress coinciding with the first half of the term of the President and commence at the beginning of the subsequent session of Congress.
SECTION 4. No less than 180 days preceding the expiration of the term of a justice of the Supreme Court, or upon the death or impeachment of a justice of the Supreme Court, or upon announcement of the retirement of a justice of the Supreme Court before the completion of the term of service, the President shall nominate a new justice. The Senate shall confirm the nominee by a two-thirds super-majority.
SECTION 5. In the event that a justice fills a vacancy caused by the death, impeachment or resignation of another justice, if he or she fills more than one half of an unexpired term, he or she may not be nominated henceforth to serve a full term.
SECTION 6. This amendment supersedes Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2, as well as any statute pertaining to the appointment and confirmation of the Chief Justice and Associate Justices of the Supreme Court.
Justification
The lifetime appointment of Supreme Court justices has resulted in a Supreme Court that is aged, in declining health, and potentially senile. Term limits and the staggered rotation of justices will help ensure a court that is competent, healthy and responsive to the times. The staggered term structure guarantees the President the opportunity to replace at least one-third of the court (and two-thirds if he is re-elected), which my reader will surely find questionable. However, by requiring super-majority confirmation, this amendment forces the President to nominate justices who will pass muster with a broad bipartisan coalition. (In a situation where Senators represent the states' interests rather than the people's, hopefully the Senators would consult with their respective states before approving any nominee.)
The following table illustrates what the staggering of terms will look like:
Congress | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
President | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | Term | |||||||||||
SC Class 1 | Term | Term | |||||||||||||||
SC Class 2 | Term | Term | Term | ||||||||||||||
SC Class 3 | Term | Term | Term |