HJRES174Referred to Committee

Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to provide for term limits for justices of the Supreme Court.

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Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2026-05-04
Introduced
5
Cosponsors
HJRES
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Johnny Olszewski, Jr.
Johnny Olszewski, Jr.
Democrat · MD · Representative
Votes with party: 98.8% (604 recorded votes)
Top industries funding sponsor:
  • Climate & Environment$106k

Full profile: /officials/O000176

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (5)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

2026-05-04

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

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Plain-English Summary

This proposal would change the Constitution to limit how long Supreme Court justices can serve, rather than allowing them to serve for life as they currently do. The specific term limits would need to be determined through the amendment process, but the goal is to ensure that no single justice holds power indefinitely and that presidents have more regular opportunities to appoint new justices. This would affect the Supreme Court's composition and potentially influence the types of legal decisions the Court makes over time.

AI-assisted summary generated from the official bill metadata (title, subjects, actions) sourced from Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed. Always verify against the official text linked below.

Subjects

Law

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H.J. Res. 174 Introduced in House (IH)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session H. J. RES. 174 Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to provide for term limits for justices of the Supreme Court. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 4, 2026 Mr. Olszewski submitted the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary _______________________________________________________________________ JOINT RESOLUTION Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to provide for term limits for justices of the Supreme Court. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein), That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States: ``Article-- ``The tenure in office of a justice of the Supreme Court may not exceed 18 years. In the case of any justice who is serving as of the ratification of this amendment, if the tenure in office of that justice is 18 years or more, that term of that justice shall be terminated. If such a justice is the Chief Justice, the position shall be filled in accordance with law.''. <all>
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