The day a commercial airline captain turns 65, their licence to fly a passenger jet expires. It does not matter how sharp they are, how many hours they have logged, or how clean their medical record reads. Federal law grounds them. Yet a member of the United States Congress can keep writing the nation's laws at 80, 85 or 92, with no ceiling on age set anywhere.
That gap drew fresh scrutiny this summer. South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham died on 11 July 2026, at 71, following a brief illness. No one weighed his replacement against a fitness test. Under state law the governor simply appointed one, Graham's sister Darline, who was sworn in on 14 July, three days later.
