Pros and Cons of Tenure for Supreme Court Judges

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Tehrim Madassar

Mr. Mabry

Business Law

31 March 2017

Pros and Cons of Lifetime position for Federal and Supreme Court Judges

Federal employees and Supreme Court judges can serve for life through tenure.

Supreme court justices are required to serve for life unless they've committed very bad

behavior but this rarely happens. Tenure is defined as the holding of an office over a

long period of time or a permanent post. The long period of time required by justices to

stay in power is a big controversy. Many of them are old and begin to make subtle

mistakes that could be easily avoided. As a solution to this problem some people

suggest that justices have a limited amount of years that they can work.

A vital part of being federal judge is to protect against the tyranny of majority

where the minority rights are subverted to the will of the majority. They must constantly

refer to things like the Bill of Rights to enforce rights. Life tenure serves as a shield for

Federal Judges against the political pressure that comes with the accountability for an

electorate as well as also providing independence. Being a federal judge can be very

stressful especially with the large amount of political and social pressure that comes

with the job. And although many of them are very old, their experience gives them more

wisdom. Part of being a good judge is having the experience and knowledge to make

good decisions. And many judges reach their prime at around 65 despite being so old.

But the debate over life tenure is still very on going. And not without reason, the

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American people need to consider limiting judicial tenure to a non-renewable fixed term

of years.

Although keeping tenure has its positive points the cons outweigh the pros. At

the time this idea of having tenure seemed like a good plan. Framers wanted to make

the Supreme Court and lower federal courts independent of political branches. So they

could have their space to keep them away from popular passions. But over time this

idea of tenure became a form of corruption. Justices’ began to look at tenure as a way

to showcase their power and authority. It slowly becomes about glory and power instead

of the actual purpose at hand. This amount of vast power can be dangerous and could

lead to arrogance and abuse.

In addition to the corruption old age is also a leading factor to the dangers of

tenure. Some justices become mentally incompetent at doing their jobs or they become

docile at making the right decisions. As they become older they also develop advancing

age detracts from the open-mindedness that is required to be a judge. Because of this,