Posted on 10/17/2005 7:36:01 AM PDT by Crackingham
Nowhere in the oath of office taken by Supreme Court justices does the phrase "until death do us part" appear. It just seems that way.
Justices today, on average, remain on the high court longer and retire at a more advanced age than ever before. Supreme Court justices now routinely serve a quarter-century or more. No justice has retired at an age younger than 75 since 1981 (when Potter Stewart stepped down at 66). The Soviet Politburo probably turned over faster. Which is why an informal band of prominent legal thinkers from left and right is challenging the Constitution's grant of lifetime tenure to Supreme Court justices. With life spans lengthening, and the court's members clinging so tenaciously to their robes, these critics want to limit justices to a single fixed term, usually set at 18 years. So far, no prominent politician has joined them. But the idea seems destined to generate more discussion as frustration in both parties mounts over the process of selecting and confirming Supreme Court nominees.
"I think there is a widespread feeling on both the right and the left that everything surrounding the Supreme Court and the appointment of its members is broken and needs to be fixed," said Northwestern University Law School professor Steven G. Calabresi, a founder of the conservative Federalist Society and coauthor of a fixed-term proposal.
In a recent article, Calabresi and Northwestern colleague James Lindgren documented the tendency of justices to linger longer as the court's prestige and power have grown in the last decades.
From 1789, when the Supreme Court was established, through 1970, the average justice spent 14.9 years on the bench. The justices who have retired since 1970 served on the court an average of 26.1 years — nearly twice as long.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Gee jackass why didn't this idea come to you when you thought you controlled the court?
If that's his thesis, its stupid, since the only old people on the SC are leftists. Roberts isn't old, and Miers isn't that old.
Amendments are designed to provide a means for correcting mistakes or ommissions within the document. They really were not intended to change the whole political philosophy of it.
The Court was not designed to be democratically elected and for good reason.
Making the Court subject to the electorate would remove an important check upon the tyrannical potential of the Majority. It is a very bad idea which fortunately will go nowhere.
Yeah - Good idea and how about term limits for the boneheads in congress??
The SCOTUS should stand the way it is, except we need to get originalists on the bench not liberal or conservative activists.
I'd prefer 2/3 to 3/4 and an easier document to change, although 2/3 is far from "easy."
I do not believe in lifetime tenure; it is an abomination. No public servant should have that kind of assurance.
It is no different than the divine right of kings.
And the judges truly have become our aristocracy.
I do agree with your sentiment that judges on the SCOTUS act like kings in many instances, but I would rather see the congress straightened out before we change the constitution, but that is just me.
When the Constitution was written, no one forsaw that life expectancy would rise so much and that Justices would be able to be active and alert into their eighties.`
Well, I was going to mention this point, but I see you already have.
How about an amendment that provides a clear definition of the term "good behaviour"
IMO, continuosly issuing bad judgements, in the face of all legislative and executive attempts to check the court's usurpation of authority, are definitely bad behaviour.
We should be able to make them accountable in a manner that still protects the minority.
Let's see: 15 year terms for judges, 12 year terms for senators, and 6 year terms for representatives. Throw in a 6 year term for the president, and I think we'll have a perfect world.
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