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Clause 2 of the United States Constitution outlines the process whereby the President of the United States is entrusted with the responsibility of selecting the Supreme Court Justices: "The President...shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States." Because unlike other public servants, Supreme Court Justices serve for life, their appointments need to be considered carefully. The general public cannot be trusted to make decisions this important with proper care and consideration. The most recent election of Donald Trump further proves this to be the case. Even though presidential appointments are problematic in their own way, they still remain the best solution to protect the system of checks and balances.The recent fiasco with the opposition government stymying the President's Supreme Court nominees shows that the procedures whereby the Justices are approved and confirmed needs to be revised. That does not mean the decision should revert to the people. The election of state judges shows exactly how problematic public elections for members of the judiciary can be. As Zeder (2012) points out, 90% of state judges must run for office. Those elections are costly and often sullied by extraneous political issues. With few exceptions, the general public has no idea what a good, professional, experienced...
A judge's peers, however, do know. There is a "good-faith logic" in holding public elections for county and state judges, which does provide a balance of powers given that the Supreme Court is the ultimate court of appeals (Zeder, 2012). If the Supreme Court were publically elected too, that would mean that no member of the judiciary would remain stalwart and independent from the fray and whims of fluctuating public opinion.
The system of checks and balances depends on the Appointment Clause. The people do not directly elect the president. They do directly elect members of Congress. The people indirectly elect the president, who then directly appoints the Justices. In other words, each of the three branches is elected differently. No two of the three branches receives its power or appointment in the same way, a situation that is integral to their power sharing capacities. If the public directly elected the Supreme Court, the members of the Supreme Court would veer closer in the direction of a legislative body, which it is not designed to be. Doing so would undermine the fundamental feature of the Supreme Court, its purpose as the final court to determine the constitutionality of local, state, and federal law. The Supreme Court needs to remain distinct from the other branches of government and not subject to temperamental swings in the electorate. The social norms and values that change more gradually over time are,…
Supreme Court Justices Chief Justice John G. Roberts Biography John Glover Roberts Jr. was born on January 27, 1955, in Buffalo, New York. Roberts grew up with three sisters, Kathy, Peggy, and Barbara and his mother Rosemary. His father, John Sr., a plant manager at Bethlehem Steel, moved the family to Long Beach, Indiana, when Roberts was in fourth grade. After grade school Roberts attended La Lumiere School, a Roman Catholic boarding school
Political Science Supreme Court Justices There are currently nine Supreme Court Justices on the Supreme Court of the United States. Clearly, the Supreme Court shows a definite conservative tendency, with seven of the nine justices appointed by Republican Presidents, and only two appointed by Democratic Presidents ("Justices"). The Chief Justice of the Court is William H. Rehnquist, who has served on the Court since 1972, and has been the Chief Justice since 1986.
Justice Antonin Scalia's philosophy and contributions to the US Supreme Court, and the effect of his demise on the Court, particularly on Amendments IV, V, VI and VIII. Philosophy and Impact of the Death of Scalia Owing to Justice Scalia's disruptive nature, a number of impolite social media posts, op-eds and tweets are expected from parties who were usually not in agreement with his philosophy. Despite the presence of other "conservative" Justices,
Supreme Court Justices as regards their lifetime appointment status. Life tenure by Supreme Court judges has numerous significances as well as drawbacks. However, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages and, as such it should be taken into consideration. Furthermore, the federal judges should receive significant pay as result of the importance of their job. This article includes the advantages and disadvantages of being a federal judge, as well as their tenure and
counter-majoritarian difficulty is what some refer to as the most well-known issue in constitutional theory. A phrase created by Alexander Bickel, the Yale Professor introduced it in his book titled The Least Dangerous Branch: The Supreme Court at the Bar of Politics. Although it is not certain what Bickel meant by making that phrase, it grew to have a life of its own. Essentially now it means when unelected
Supreme Court and Public Opinion The Supreme Court of the United States was established in 1789 as part of the basic three sections of the American governmental system: Executive (President and Staff), Legislative (Congress), and Judicial (Supreme Court System). Each U.S. State also has a supreme court, which is the highest law for interpreting cases that move into that jurisdiction. Essentially, the Supreme Court has the ultimate jurisdiction over all federal