Fix the Court’s Gabe Roth released this statement in response to this afternoon’s House vote on H.J. Res. 1:

“I was pleased to see this vote fail, not because my organization supports court expansion — we don’t — but because we dislike political theater, especially when lawmakers should be attending to much more urgent issues.

“More to the point, the only practical way to enact term limits for the Supreme Court is through statute, and Fix the Court has long held that a statute can’t limit the terms of the current nine justices.

“That sentiment was echoed by Justice Sotomayor two summers ago, and that’s what leading constitutional scholars, citing Supreme Court precedent, have asserted, as well.

“What this means in practice is that justices appointed after the enactment of a term limits law would serve alongside the current nine, so the Court could temporarily expand. When we asked about this structure in a 2021 poll, Democrats, Independents and Republicans all favored a temporary expansion over the status quo, where 30-plus year terms have become the norm.

“That’s why I believe a vote in favor of the amendment was a vote against ever enacting term limits at the Supreme Court.”