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| RBG'S Possible Incapacity And The Case For Judicial Term Limits |
| 2019-02-12 |
| [Daily Caller] Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s difficulty in carrying out her judicial duties has encouraged informal wagering about whether she can continue until President Trump leaves office. This is in bad taste and overshadows recognition of her outstanding career. The problem of justices outliving their judicial capacity has recurred throughout U.S. history. But it may be growing more acute, as advances in health care enable physical strength to outlive mental capacity. We do not yet have a satisfactory mechanism for addressing the issue. No statute forcing justices to leave office would be valid because the Constitution specifies that they "hold their Offices during good Behavior." That’s a rough translation of the Anglo-Latin formula, "quam diu bene gesserit." It literally means "so long has he shall have conducted himself well." Justices serve until their death, retirement, resignation, or impeachment-and-conviction, whichever comes first. One possible remedy is for family members or professional colleagues to pressure a failing justice into resigning or retiring. Another alternative is impeachment, conviction, and removal from office for "high ... Misdemeanors." In the constitutional context, this is a fiduciary standard, and is broad enough to include negligence or other breach of duty due to incapacity. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #6 So for years and years SCOTUS for life has been a good thing while under Liberal control, now that Conservatives are getting the edge, it's not right to have SCOTUS for life! RBG needs to show herself, this behind the curtain stuff isn't ok. This just drives me nuts. |
| Posted by: Jan 2019-02-12 17:28 |
| #5 Time for some old hickory? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2019-02-12 14:12 |
| #4 Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America by Mark R. Levin. One of the very best history books on the court's judges. Including several that were completely incapacitated and still (left) on the bench. Pretty chilling. “America’s founding fathers had a clear and profound vision for what they wanted our federal government to be,” says constitutional scholar Mark R. Levin in his explosive book, Men in Black. “But today, our out-of-control Supreme Court imperiously strikes down laws and imposes new ones to suit its own liberal whims––robbing us of our basic freedoms and the values on which our country was founded.” In Men in Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America, Levin exposes countless examples of outrageous Supreme Court abuses, from promoting racism in college admissions, expelling God and religion from the public square, forcing states to confer benefits on illegal aliens, and endorsing economic socialism to upholding partial-birth abortion, restraining political speech, and anointing terrorists with rights. Levin writes: “Barely one hundred justices have served on the United States Supreme Court. They’re unelected, they’re virtually unaccountable, they’re largely unknown to most Americans, and they serve for life…in many ways the justices are more powerful than members of Congress and the president.… As few as five justices can and do dictate economic, cultural, criminal, and security policy for the entire nation.” |
| Posted by: Woodrow 2019-02-12 12:58 |
| #3 I don't know. A SC justice that occupies a place on the bench like place holder, but never shows up for work? I'm looking for a downside here... Posted by ed in texas Okay unless she's allowed to vote in absentia and her aides are interpreting eye blinks into votes. |
| Posted by: jpal 2019-02-12 09:54 |
| #2 I don't know. A SC justice that occupies a place on the bench like place holder, but never shows up for work? I'm looking for a downside here... |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2019-02-12 07:37 |
| #1 If you want a republic, no one can sit for life otherwise the institution devolves into one form of aristocracy or another. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2019-02-12 06:39 |