What the Constitution says
Article III, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution provides that federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, 'shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour.' Since the early republic, that clause has generally been interpreted to mean justices serve for life, subject only to resignation, retirement, death, or impeachment and removal by Congress. No justice has ever been removed through impeachment.
How tenure has changed
Justices today tend to serve substantially longer than their predecessors. According to Congressional Research Service data, justices who left the Court before 1970 served an average of about 15 years. For those who departed between 1970 and 2022, the average was roughly 27 years. Longer life expectancy and the appointment of younger nominees are commonly cited as factors.
The case for term limits
Supporters argue that fixed terms — most often a single 18-year term, with a vacancy arising every two years — would make appointments more predictable and reduce the political stakes of any single nomination. They contend term limits could lessen incentives for justices to time their retirements for partisan reasons and bring the U.S. into line with peer democracies, which typically use fixed terms, mandatory retirement ages, or both.
The case against term limits
Opponents argue that life tenure was a deliberate constitutional choice meant to insulate justices from political pressure and allow them to rule without concern for future employment or popularity. Critics of term-limit proposals also warn that more frequent vacancies could increase, rather than decrease, the political intensity of confirmation fights, and that justices nearing the end of their terms might tailor decisions with post-Court careers in mind.
Can it be done by statute?
The 2022 Presidential Commission on the Supreme Court reported 'considerable, bipartisan support' among scholars for an 18-year term proposal but found significant disagreement over the mechanism. Some legal scholars argue Congress could establish term limits by statute — for instance, by rotating senior justices to lower courts after 18 years of active service. Others maintain that any change to the length of a justice's tenure on the Supreme Court would require a constitutional amendment, which needs two-thirds of both chambers of Congress and ratification by three-fourths of the states.
Public opinion and international comparison
Polling by AP-NORC in 2022 found that roughly two-thirds of Americans supported imposing term limits on Supreme Court justices, with majority support among both Democrats and Republicans. Internationally, the United States stands alone among major constitutional democracies in granting life tenure to its highest court. Countries such as Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, France and Australia rely on fixed terms, mandatory retirement ages, or a combination of the two.