[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.J. Res. 160 Introduced in House (IH)]

  2d Session
H. J. RES. 160

  Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to 
  provide that Federal judges be reconfirmed by the Senate every six 
                                 years.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 16, 1996

Mr. Hayes introduced 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 that Federal judges be reconfirmed by the Senate every six 
                                 years.

    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 
within seven years after the date of its submission for ratification:

                              ``Article--

    ``Section 1. Except as provided in section 2, no person may serve 
more than six years as a judge of a court created by Act of Congress, 
except with the consent of the Senate, given within the first year at 
the beginning of each successive six-year period after the judge first 
takes office.
    ``Sec. 2. For purposes of this article, any person who first took 
office as a judge of a court created by Act of Congress before the 
adoption of this article shall be divided into three classes. The first 
class, those judges who have twelve or more years of service, shall be 
subject to reconfirmation by the Senate within the first year following 
the adoption of this article. The second class, any person who first 
took office as a judge no fewer than five nor more than twelve years 
before the adoption of this article, shall be subject to reconfirmation 
by the Senate within the second year following the adoption of this 
article. The third class, all other judges, shall be reconfirmed by the 
Senate within the first 365 days at the beginning of each successive 
six-year period after the judge first took office.
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