Limiting supreme court justices’ tenure
Limiting Supreme Court Justices’ Tenure
As you know, Supreme Court Justices are appointed by the President (with the advice and consent of the Senate) for a life term. Recently, the topic of the justices’ tenure has come up for discussion again, with some arguing that limiting justices to a certain predetermined term would be beneficial to our political system. An overview of arguments for and against can be read in this article by Lori Ringhand and Paul Collins, titled “Why not limit Neil Gorsuch — and all Supreme Court justices — to 18-year terms?” (Links to an external site.)
In this response, I want you to think about the idea of limiting the tenure of Supreme Court justices. Would you be in favor of term limits? Why, or why not? Would you propose a different solution, like a direct election (as is used to fill some judicial posts on the state level here in Texas) to encourage turnover on the Supreme Court bench? And what do you think the idea behind and/or the value of our current system is, where justices are appointed for life? What are some of the disadvantages?
Write a response of about 500-600 words in which you address the questions listed above, and elaborate on your position towards term limits for Supreme Court justices.
