SUPREME COURT JUSTICES SHOULD BE ELECTED BY THE PEOPLE
The United States Supreme Court Justices have been appointed by the president, with consent from the Senate, since the ratification of the constitution. Though the justices have been appointed for life terms for the past hundreds of years, they should only be appointed for fixed amount of time. With a fixed tenure, the justices would be less likely to become corrupt and their decision making would be kept true when they were appointed. The electorates control over the judicial branch of government does not violate the principle of separation of powers, instead it does enhance the Checks and Balances system. The Founding Fathers of America set in place many of the laws and practices
…show more content…
Therefore, the president is said to be the only one with the ability to determine who is best fit to be in offices in the Constitution. Being appointed for life was deemed necessary by the Founding Fathers as well, because they felt that the judges would need an extensive amount of time, such as a life term, to follow the constitution. “That inflexible and uniform adherence to the rights of the Constitution, and of individuals, which we perceive to be indispensable in the courts of justice, can certainly not be expected from judges who hold their offices by a temporary commission. Periodical appointments, however regulated, or by whomsoever made, would, in some way or other, be fatal to their necessary independence.” Times have changed, the general needs to have the right to appoint the Supreme Court justices should be left to the citizens of the country, not the president. The citizens of America should have the right to choose those that will interpret the Constitution and make new policies that will affect everyone in the country through court cases during their term on the bench. Those who serve on the federal judiciary bench need to be responsible for their actions and therefor, need to answer to the citizens that would elect them.
The Supreme Court justices have been appointed by the president of the United States and have held life tenures granted to them, but this needs to change to ensure that the wellbeing of the
Under the U.S. Constitution, this appointment is a lifelong position that will only be nullified if the judge resigns their post or dies in office. This creates serious contests within the partisan political environment found among federal representatives, for any candidate appointed to this post helps define the direction of the Supreme Court for the rest of their life. Thus, it is frequently believed that a president who appoints a judge to the Supreme Court is creating a legacy, helping to shape the direction of the laws for the country for a time long after their presidency has expired. This makes the selection of a judge a hotly contested process.
In order for the Supreme Court to be democratically legitimate should be both politically and socially representative. In a diverse country such as the USA it’s extremely difficult to be politically representative however the Court is even less socially representative. There is currently and has only ever been 1 member of the supreme court who is of Hispanic origin compared to the approximately 17% of the population.
Article 3, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states that judges “shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour,” meaning that as long as Supreme Court judges don’t commit crimes, they can hold their position
“Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court goes on forever,” declared by past President William Howard Taft. Dated in 1789, the Judiciary Act by signed by Congress, which was demanded by the United States Constitution. This past principal court was ruled by a Chief Justice and five Associate Justices, accordingly today we still have a Chief Justice, but we currently have eight Associate Justices. The current Supreme Court has John G. Roberts, Jr. as Chief Justice, and the following are the current Associate Justices: Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr., Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Clarence Thomas, a conservative, best known as the second
If you think that this is an odd way to elect our judges, you are not alone. Even the former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court, Wallace Jefferson is a misguided way to elect our judges. (Horwitz). One major drawback for this is with the people who vote in the election, more often time than not do not have adequate information to give a well-informed vote. Most of the time, if people do not have a lot information about all the candidates on the ballot, then they nearly every time vote for the name they know which is the name running for re-election. For the voters who do this they might possibly be jeopardizing a better person qualified for the position, but they do not realize this because of the lack of information that they have access
In the novel, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Steinbeck uses word choice and imagery to enhance the reader’s understanding of the setting and characters. In word choice, he uses simple words to describe the setting, the restaurant and truck, . He uses imagery to describe the setting and to characterize the “man”. This passage uses simple words to describe the truck and the restaurant, such as, “A huge red transport truck stood in front of the little roadside restaurant.”
one man, Ezra, who is blind, Ben is very unkind and insulting to over the phone as a meat salesman. His unkindness was due to an outburst shortly after the deaths of all those people. He comes to find that Ezra is a humble, genuine, lonely, good-hearted man and gives him his eyes to see. Ben asks another woman, Holly (who is a social worker), if there is a case where the victim desperately needs help, but is too proud to accept a hand out. She directs Ben to a Hispanic mother of two who is in an abusive relationship, but is too afraid to leave.
In conclusion, life terms for Supreme Court justices are beneficial to both the government and the people of the United States of America. Furthermore, changing the current system would be a hassle
Currently, the lifetime appointment is to hold the integrity of the power granted to the court, to protect judges from interference on decisions that effect the other branches of government. Keeping the Supreme Court separate from the other branches upholds the integrity of the courts constitutional opinion. Alexander Hamilton described it as “that independent spirit in the judges.” It is important to understand this under the original
In Federalist Paper number 78, Alexander Hamilton addresses the importance of an independent judicial branch and judicial review. The Constitution proposes the federal judges hold their office for life, Hamilton says by serving for life it decreases the chance of political pressure
The United States judicial branch to the general American public can seem insulated from politics, because of their adversarial system, that does not allow judges to choose their cases. The judicial branch unlike, their two counterparts, the legislative and executive at large rely on the respect of the American people and the heads of the two other branches. In appointing members of the federal judiciary, Presidents appoint members who resemble their political ideologies and their likelihood of confirmation in the Senate, the Senate confirms these members based on their performance on the litmus test and Senatorial courtesy. Courts, specifically the Supreme Court, make decisions based on the Constitution, but the legislative branch has the
The judicial branch is one of the most powerful branches in the usa besides the legislative branch but the judicial branch has the ability to have the president confirm if they take or leave the Supreme Court Justices are chosen by the President, confirmed by the Senate, and serve for the rest of their lives, as long as they practice “good behavior.”
Numerous Americans are unaware that by next year, the average age of Supreme Court justices will be 75. Unlike other countries, the United States’ Supreme Court does not enforce the idea of term limits. Once a judge is selected, when they leave the Supreme Court is up to their decision. Supreme Court justices may choose to retire early or die. However, as the judges are getting older and older, their health may intervene with the decisions that are being made. Issues regarding the health of the justices’ would not be a reoccurring annoyance if they were to be swapped out with younger and healthier judges; therefore, term limits are a good idea because there would be more diversity in the Supreme Court, mental and health issues would be reduced, and term limits would be long enough for judges to master the job.
This allows the executive branch to determine the makeup of the judiciary branch, and through it exercise power over the legislative branch. Because the men and women appointed to the Supreme Court remain there for life, with no public elections to possibly remove them, a president can affect politics through his choice of appointees for decades after his time in office has ended (Romance, July 29). But this, too, is limited by the Congress as the president’s judicial appointments are subject to the consent of the Senate (Landy and Milkis, 289).
1. The video shows students are able to circumvent traditional methods of learning such as reading a classic novel. What affect does this have long term? Specifically in the workplace Ever since the advent of technology, the print industry and much of the traditional ways of conveying information stood in the way of an evolutionary process.