Judicial Appointment Reform
1. A Quick Overview
Have you ever wondered why U.S. federal judges are appointed by the President and get to sit on the bench for life? So have we.
We have a couple major changes to improve the situation, creating an equitable system and treating the powerful role of ‘judge’ appropriately. Our Constitution provides for term limits and judicial appointment by a committee of experts (this is in addition to taking away sentencing power from judges, as discussed in the Sentencing & Prison Reform Section).
Article 6, Section 5 of the Constitution outlines the appointment process:
Judges shall be recommended by the non-partisan Judicial Nomination Committee, approved by a simple majority in the Congress and appointed by the President, all of which shall be in a timely manner, not unreasonably withheld, and in accordance with the procedure laid down by Act.
Article 6, Section 6 institutes term limits:
Judges shall serve a maximum of two ten-year terms at each tier of court.
2. Influence Your Representatives
Write them all. It takes five seconds.
Here is some suggested text to use:
Dear _______________,
Judicial appointments should not be unilateral and eternal.
Imagine an 81-year old justice beginning to suffer from dementia. He happily remembers the days on the playground of his segregated elementary school, but forgets his docket. In the afternoons, as his sugar drops, his sentences become more aggressive. After 3pm, he tends to nod off on the bench. By 4:45, he wakes up to the internal ring of his daily scotch calling. Many days, this anticipatory joy overwhelms him and he makes mistakes to speed up the process; objections are overruled, witnesses are cut short, juries are ignored, liberty is lost.
In the end, only a judge can take away one’s individual liberty. That is quite a power to grant as no human is infallible. The role should be treated with this in mind. We must fill the bench with qualified, fair and non-partisan legal experts.
Please support term limits and appointment reform immediately.
Sincerely yours,
X
