Is the Highest Court in America High on Itself or Something Else?
It is time to make some changes to the American democratic "system", in this case The Supreme Court. Just like diagnosing a car, if you could plug into an American government "chip" I'm sure The Supreme Court would be flagged with a code indicating that repair was needed.Rumours abound that there is internal squabbling. I'm sure this is not new but the differences are never supposed to be based upon politics. To the public it appears that is exactly what is happenng. Look at the fate of great sports teams when the squabbling gets nasty. Their performance falls apart.
What do you expect when Presidents - most recently Trump but many others before him - try to stack the deck in their party's favour? It is supposed to be the last impartial pillar on which the American three part system can rely. Can they do so any longer? That is questionable.
I have suggested before that the court needs to change. It will not be easy but the American system was designed without easy in mind. It should be difficult but doable. Who will take on the challenge?
Here is this author's suggestions as one who has never been a professional politician and who is not American. They apply to the appointment process and the term served by a judge. The objectives are to limit the term any one judge can serve and to attempt to maintain an even split of party appointments. The same should apply to any other Supreme Court appointments in the land:
- There must always be an odd number of judges. Today there are 9.
- Just as there is today there will be one Chief Justice to break any split decisions.
- Judges continue to be appointed but not for life. They will serve for a minimum of 4 years but a maximum of 8 net years. After four years a judge can be replaced by the President. (If a judge is off for 6 months that will not count against their total.)
- Each new President gets to appoint a maximum of 4 Supreme Court judges (currently) or 50% of the court, excluding the Chief Justice. However if no judge has served their minimum 4 years, no appointments will be permitted until that time.
- The only exceptions would be if a judge retires, dies, or is incapacitated.
- If a President wins a 2nd 4 year term and they want to appoint new judges, they will have to replace judges who have served their minimum four years and who were appointed by their own party.
- During the approval process for a new judge, only a fixed number of rejections (to be determined) of individuals will be permitted. Once the maximum is reached, the President is free to make the appointment.
It should work towards balancing out the numbers of red and blue judges and could be extended to any additional parties in the future. It should also make existing judges thinks twice about politically motivated decisions.
This will not please everyone but it deserves its day in court! If you object please leave constructive comments below.
#thebrewsterblock