President Biden on Monday proposed major changes to the Supreme Court, including an 18-year term limit for justices and a binding code of conduct.
Under Mr. Biden’s term limits plan, presidents would appoint a new Supreme Court justice every two years. If that rule had been in place for the past two decades and each justice had served a full 18-year term, the court’s ideological split would have been reversed, as this chart shows.
The Supreme Court now consists of six conservative justices, appointed by former Presidents Donald J. Trump, George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush, and three liberal justices, appointed by Mr. Biden and former President Barack Obama. Three of the justices, all conservative, have served for more than 18 years: Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Justices Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Clarence Thomas.
If term limits had allowed the president to select a justice every two years during the last four administrations, those numbers would have been reversed: six justices would have been appointed by Democratic presidents and three by Republicans.
Mr. Biden also proposed a constitutional amendment to oppose a court ruling this month that presidents are entitled to substantial immunity from criminal prosecution. His three plans are unlikely to come to fruition anytime soon. The overhaul would require congressional approval, which is not expected from a Republican-controlled House and divided Senate.
