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A few quick ideas how to fix the Supreme Court [1]

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Date: 2022-11-14

A proposal for a more responsible supreme court:

Statement of purpose:

Ensure that Justices are selected on the basis of experience, temperament, and fitness to serve Experience with the law should comprise one key measure, but other experience should also be considered Temperament should take into account both legal and personal ties to improper conduct unbefitting service or incompatible with judicial conduct. Fitness can take into account whether the justice expects to be able to provide their full attention to the work of the court, free of debilitating illness and significant financial and relational interests which have a high likelihood to create frequent conflicts of interest.

Ensure that Justice selection does not violate Article 1 Section 9, functioning as a de facto in perpetuity Title of Nobility

Properly serve the separation of Powers principles of the constitution. Justices should not be concerned with their own nomination process once in place. Justices should not be incentivized to create constitutional crises by acting as super-legislators.



Proposed changes to the Supreme Court

Nine Supreme Court Seats shall be created. Justices shall occupy one of each of these nine seats. Seats shall have terms ending after eighteen years. Justices shall not be nominated if they have served more than twelve lifetime years. Nominations for vacating seats shall be done every odd year for the following session. Current Justices will serve in seats according to their seniority in the court. (yes that sucks for Dems at the moment, but the only other fair option is randomization)

At the beginning of every new Supreme Court nomination, the court will select a Chief Justice. Unless another Chief Justice is selected by the majority of members, the Chief Justice role should be occupied by the next seat to retire.

Ensure that the Supremes stay fit for work: Justices can vacate a seat on a temporary basis for personal or health reasons. They may recommend a temporary replacement to fill the seat, ratified by the remaining Justices, for no more than the remainder of the current term. After that a new nomination process can begin in the senate.

Gridlock: If the Senate fails to nominate a candidate for the Court in a timely manner then a temporary justice can be appointed by the Court to serve for no more than six lifetime months.

Ethics and Standards: The Supreme Court shall enact a set of standards for behavior and ethics compatible with those applied to other members of the federal judiciary. Failure to comply with these standards can serve as a basis for impeachment or censure.



This makes EVERY federal election have a Justice at stake. It ensures that the nominating cycle is predictable and starts after all the new members of the legislature have settled into their jobs for almost a year. It ensures that there's SOME remedy if the senate leadership decides to stall on renomination. It should encourage elderly and sick justices to just RETIRE already and not work themselves to death. The worst case scenario on seniority is that a justice retires early and someone takes their seat and is able to serve for 30 years. If the Chief Justice is expected to rotate among the membership it becomes less of a vanity project and more of an administrative role.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/11/14/2136034/-A-few-quick-ideas-how-to-fix-the-Supreme-Court

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