After the Supreme Court decision last week limiting the scope of the Voting Rights Act (VRA) amidst a redistricting battle in Louisiana, U.S. Congressman Johnny Olszewski (D-MD) introduced the Reform of Bench Eligibility (ROBE) Act, a constitutional amendment to establish 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices, who currently receive lifetime appointments to the bench.
[NOTE: On April 29, 2026, the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, split along party lines, significantly weakened Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), ruling that voters challenging racially discriminatory redistricting must show “strong inference” of intentional discrimination, making it generally harder to contest maps.]
Olszewski said in a statement: “Recent rulings that have thrown out decades of legal precedent, combined with ethically dubious behavior by sitting judges, are testing that faith. Justices should not be hobnobbing at White House dinners and flying on the private jets of friends who have business before the Court.”
“The announcement comes after the Supreme Court recently limited the scope of the Voting Rights Act amid a redistricting battle in Louisiana.”https://t.co/GM79EKzuf7
— More Perfect Union (@MorePerfectUS) May 4, 2026
Without naming the justices in his statement, Olszewski cited “alarmingly partisan behavior” by justices, noting how the six conservative justices attended a recent White House state dinner without the liberal counterparts. Olszewski also notes justices having accepted luxury gifts from political donors and friends with business before the court, and that one sitting justice was accused of flying a ‘stop the steal’ flag outside his home less than a week after the January 6 riots. (The conservative six are Chief Justice John Roberts, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, and Amy Coney Barrett.)
Representing a stark contrast to Olszewki’s view, former Republican Vice President Mike Pence wrote a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed titled “The Triumph of Clarence Thomas” — whose conservative views Pence champions — and congratulated Thomas for his exceptionally long career on the bench.
Ten years ago, when I learned that I could choose any justice to administer my oath, I chose the most consistent conservative on the Supreme Court who is now also the second longest serving justice in history. Congratulations Justice Clarence Thomas!
https://t.co/enxJ1Ct8jj pic.twitter.com/CyheGqOWsc — Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) May 4, 2026
Pence, who asked Thomas to swear him in at the 2016 inauguration, wrote: “Congratulations to Clarence Thomas, who this week will become the second-longest-serving Supreme Court Justice in history. Longevity is its own reward, but more important is that the 77-year-old Justice has served long enough to see his originalist view of the Constitution remake American law.”
[NOTE: Thomas was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. The late William O. Douglas, who is often characterized as “the most liberal justice in the U.S. Supreme Court’s history,” is the longest-serving Supreme Court justice in history, with a tenure of nearly 37 years (1939–1975).]