Posted on 08/26/2024 7:09:12 AM PDT by MtnClimber
They'll do whatever they want. Increasingly, no one has shown the will to stop them.
Same as it has been for a 100 years. Total government power in their hands forever.
If only they were bound by the Constitution. They have repeatedly demonstrated that they are not, and that no one will hold them to account.
Its why Fed.gov must be bankrupted and reduced to 10% of its present size.
There are potential tyrants in every time and era. We should never allow enough concentrated power in central government for them to work their schemes
This was the most important concern of America’s founders.
Correct as to the first, but not as to the second. The number of Supreme Court Justices is set by federal statute. See 28 U.S.C. sec. 1:
"The Supreme Court of the United States shall consist of a Chief Justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of whom shall constitute a quorum."
But with respect to something like "term limits" for Supreme Court Justices (or any federal judge, for that matter), Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution itself specifies:
"The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services, a Compensation, which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office."
The highlighted portion here has been construed to mean that Supreme Court Justices and Article III federal judges are to hold "lifetime appointments," and can be removed from their position only through impeachment.
As an aside, note that Article III, Section 1 indicates that Congress itself establishes the balance of the federal judiciary. On the face of Article III, only the Supreme Court has an independent, constitutionally-grounded status. Congress could by statute abolish the entirety of the federal judiciary, save for the Supreme Court, if it wished.
Uh, yeah, thank you . . . but I think we're fully stocked up on "crazy" on this forum already, without a nutjob like you weighing in. Why don't you go peddle your bullsh*t elsewhere?
“Am I correct in thinking they can only make “changes” to the Supreme Court it would require a Constitutional amendment?”
It has been a while since I read anything on the subject, but here’s my recollection. The Constitution is somewhat vague on the Supreme Court. The Supremes didn’t become an important thing until a few decades after the nation was formed. They were even decades late in keeping written records on their decisions. Numerous presidents have threatened to expand the court and pack it to get their way, and those threats have probably resulted in decisions that went the way the president wanted. This tells me the court as it stands now is vulnerable to being changed, packed and turned into a tool of the Democrats. The danger of this is they use the court to enact legislation that they couldn’t possibly get through Congress. This has been going on for a very long time.
At this point, almost any change to the court would be hard fought and probably not in the favor of “conservatives.” I put that in quotes because what people believe is conservative is highly personal and certainly not universal. The best a conservative can hope for is not to have any changes in the current system. “Conservatives” will fight each other to the death, leaving the page open for lock-step liberals to come in and rewrite the entire thing to their liking.
Just a matter of time.
And their supporters have no problem with that.
Lifetime appointment is not explicitly stated and not tested. Joe has not even been abiding by their rulings. It seems the precedent now is for the democRATs to just do what they want and dare the court to do anything about it. The democRATs hate Constitutional limits on their power.
I agree and sorry about the “read” comment, that was wrong of me, I know better.
This is nothing new. The communists want all the power centered in the executive branch.
DHS I have been on FR since its founding. Arseholes like you should have died off long ago.
Our feminist democracy rolls on...
“The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may, from time to time, ordain and establish.”
The Supreme Court itself gets to determine what “shall be vested” means. It also gets to decide what “good behavior” is.
The Article II “President, Vice President, and all civil officers” impeachment clause only applies to high crimes and misdemeanors.
They can change how many judges are on the court. Not much else though.
If they win the presidency and the congress, they will destroy at least three of the conservative or moderate justices by scandal or made-up criminal charges and replace them with three Ketanjis.
Merrick Garland could have conservative justices arrested in SWAT raids (insert reason here) and put them in J6 prison awaiting trial....forever. The court would then have a unanimous leftist voting majority. That is what I think would happen.
Maybe Joe is one of the Democrats who will endorse Trump ; )
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.