Democrats are once again floating a bill for Supreme Court term limits, a measure that could put the longest-serving justice, Clarence Thomas, into senior status if passed.

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA), chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, reintroduced the Supreme Court Tenure Establishment and Retirement Modernization Act on Tuesday, the same bill he proposed last year that died after it was referred to the committee.

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"Today we watch with alarm as public trust in our Supreme Court crumbles to the ground," Johnson said, standing alongside Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) and several advocates supporting his bill to impose 18-year term limits for justices.

Johnson pointed to polling from the Pew Research Center suggesting the public sees the high court as "no longer fair, impartial or ethical."

His criticism comes as his colleagues in the Senate, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), went to the biannual Judicial Conference meeting last week and called on Chief Justice John Roberts to adopt an enforceable code of ethics for the nine justices.

Johnson touted that his bill "limits Supreme Court justices to 18-year terms in active service, and it would regularize appointments so that new justices are appointed in the first and third years, up to every presidential election." However, he didn't clearly state that the impacts of his bill would result in forcing the high court's longest-serving Republican-appointed justice, Thomas, into taking on senior status.

"Under this system, senior justices would no longer regularly decide cases on the Court’s docket," according to a June 20 report about term limits by the Brennan Center for Justice.

"Instead they would be tasked with performing other important judicial duties, including sitting by designation to hear cases in the lower federal courts, assisting the chief justice with management and administration of the federal judiciary, and stepping in to hear cases on the Supreme Court’s docket upon a recusal by an active justice or in the event of an unexpected vacancy," the report added.

Several representatives from left-leaning advocacy groups attended Johnson's afternoon press conference outside the U.S. Capitol, including Christina Harvey, executive director of Stand Up America.

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Harvey claimed that "every other week, we wake up and we see another scandal" on the Supreme Court, hitting at Thomas and Republican-appointed Justice Samuel Alito over alleged ethical lapses.

Johnson's bill is unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled House because GOP lawmakers have often accused efforts such as imposing term limits and bills to enforce a binding code of ethics on the justices as measures to influence the activity of the highest court.