All nine judges would be directly elected by the voters of their circuit (made up of several states) by popular vote. They would have to be at least 35 but no more than 75 years of age, and could serve a maximum of three 10-year terms. In the event that one of the judges died, resigned, was impeached, etc. before the next general election, the President could appoint (with Senate apporval) a replacement to temporarily fill out the judge's term (just like the current system), however, this judge would only serve until the next election and then have to be elected in his own right (i.e. if Justice Stevens died tomarrow and Bush appointed Harriet Miers to fill the vacancy, she would face the voters in November 2008. If Obama appointed Judge Moonbat to fill a vacancy in Jan. 2009, he would face the voters in November 2010). Very simular to Senate vacancies now.
As before, if the Chief Justice retired, resigned, was impeached (or, with the new system, voted out of office), the President could appoint a new chief justice by choosing amongst the current justices OR appointing someone new to the court. Again, this new Chief Justice would have to face the voters during a regular election. Just like the Speaker of the House or Senate President, his election would be no different than any other judge but he could be defeated rather than serve for life. As before, the Chief Justice does not have to from the majority party of the court. Also as before, the justice next-highest in seniority would serve as acting Chief until a new one was appointed/elected.
Unlike the current system, judges would be nominated by and run under party lines, just as the President and Congress does. Judges could run as "Independant" but would probably have the same success as today's "Independant" candidates for Congress and President do. Likewise, you could theoretically elected Libertarians, Greens, and other third parties to the SC, but in all likelihood the court would consist solely of Republicans and Democrats.
As they would have to run in primary elections, Judges would have to be frank with voters about their judicial philoposhy and raise a great deal of money to conduct a campaign in 3-8 states, and would likely lose the primary if they were supporting the other side's agenda, as is the case with Illinois Supreme Court judges today.
I would require future judges to reside in the judicial circuit they are elected from (that way we have a SC reflecting each region of the US), but Justices currently in office when this amendment was adapted would be exempt from the rule, in much the way same way Truman was exempt from the term limits amendment. Future Presidents could not have "Minnesota twins", or a Rehnquist-O'Connor duo from Arizona, or two Italian-Catholics from New Jersey, etc. Judges could move their residency within 30 days if they wished to stand for election in another circuit. The At-Large and D.C. Circuits would continue to exist, but they would have no representation on the SC, just on the U.S. Court of Appeals.
I was considering the process for electing the Chief Justice, but that could merely be left up to the court members themselves to do (as it is in many states). Selecting a member to serve in that position every 4 years (it could also be the seniormost member of the ideological majority on the court as well).
Still, I doubt we’d ever go to an elective SCOTUS. I think the biggest impediment is the problems involving fundraising (which could potentially put members in a conflict of interest situation) and you’d also have a situation where decisions would be more a function of politics (by party) than of Constitutionality. No perfect solution here, unfortunately.
Possible problems with electing Supremes aside. It does not sit well with me that such powerful officials are appointed. I don’t see why the judicial branch should be different than the other 2.