(CNN) Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders said Monday he was open to backing a major proposed reform to the makeup of the Supreme Court.

The Vermont independent, following the lead of some progressive legal scholars, floated a plan that would effectively end lifetime, uninterrupted appointments for Supreme Court justices.

"What may make sense is, if not term limits, then rotating judges to the appeals court as well," Sanders said at the We the People Summit in Washington. "Letting them get out of the Supreme Court and bringing in new blood."

Sanders stopped short of backing calls to add justices to the court, a strategy gaining steam with a new generation of left-wing activists, who are putting pressure on the Democratic candidates to address their concerns over the current conservative influence on the court with more ambitious plans.

"My worry is that the next time the Republicans are in power they will do the same thing," Sanders said of the court-packing option. "So I think that is not the ultimate solution."

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