Term Limit In Supreme Court Justices

Congress and the states should pass an amendment that allows a staggered 18-year term limit on the tenure of the Supreme Court justices. Under this proposal, each justice would serve for 18 years, and the terms would be established so that there is a vacancy every two years. The vacancies would be on the first and third years of the presidential term. This would allow enough time so that the senate would pass somebody through and the president would not be denied one of his two appointees. The terms would be non-renewable, so each justice could only serve one eighteen year term. Although term limits would be a great idea, some complications may arise. For example, how do you apply the term limit system to the current justices? Since the …show more content…
First, a term limit may hurt the judicial independence. One of the best arguments against term limits is that life tenure frees justices from political pressure. Justices are not elected officials, and it would be gratifying for them to not feel the pressure of ordinary politics. Also, we do not want the justices to worry about their life after their Supreme Court career is over. The justices may become worried about how they vote on specific cases if they are trying to gain the respect of public opinion. Second, the Supreme Courts validity might be jeopardized by shortening the term limits. Having life tenure allows the justices to interpret the law exactly the way they see fit. People support the Supreme Court even in disagreements because they believe they are involved in something greater than ordinary politics (Ringhand np). Third, term limits could not eliminate all aspects of political gamesmanship. The Senate would still have the power to refuse to act on a nomination or vote down a nominee they find …show more content…
One of the major jobs for the federal judges is to protect the United States from the “tyranny of the majority”. Furthermore, even if the majority rules, the minority still has rights. Many components of the Bill of Rights, which the judges are called to enforce, are designed to protect the rights of the unpopular minorities. Being a Supreme Court judge is a difficult job, and even with life tenure, they are not completely immune from political pressure. They remain members of society; therefore it is difficult to allow things to happen even if they know it is morally wrong, but constitutionally