Politics

10179 readers

130 users here now

In-depth political discussion from around the world; if it's a political happening, you can post it here.

Guidelines for submissions:

Where possible, post the original source of information.
- If there is a paywall, you can use alternative sources or provide an archive.today, 12ft.io, etc. link in the body.
Do not editorialize titles. Preserve the original title when possible; edits for clarity are fine.
Do not post ragebait or shock stories. These will be removed.
Do not post tabloid or blogspam stories. These will be removed.
Social media should be a source of last resort.

These guidelines will be enforced on a know-it-when-I-see-it basis.

Subcommunities on Beehaw:

Socialism

This community's icon was made by Aaron Schneider, under the CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0 license.

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Joe Biden issues Supreme Court warning (www.newsweek.com)

submitted 5 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

32 comments fedilink hide all child comments

President Joe Biden has suggested he will appoint progressive justices to the Supreme Court if he wins a second term in the White House in November.

"The next president, they're going to be able to appoint a couple of justices... Look, if in fact we're able to change some of the justices when they retire and put in really progressive judges like we've always had, tell me that won't change your life," he said during a campaign rally in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Exactly.

SCOTUS justices need to be elected and have term limits. Give them three total 4 year terms max.

EDIT: I know this would take a Constitutional amendment to change, which given our current political climate, is functionally impossible

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

As a Canadian, that sounds even worse to me, lol. Elected judges? That's insanity. Judges should never be making decisions based on political expedience.

Judges should be chosen by people who are experts in the law based on their knowledge and experience.

In Canada, I suppose it's loosely political, but it's several steps removed from direct political appointment. The PM and cabinet appoint someone to be the head of the judiciary, confirmed by the Governor General, and Supreme Court judges can be held accountable by the Senate and House in cases of misconduct.

Electing judges would make it worse, not better, imho.

The best solution I've heard for the US wouldn't require a constitutional amendment, it's to make the Supreme Court position last 18 years before becoming a Justice Emeritus (or whatever) that's mostly ceremonial. That takes away the incentive to stuff the judiciary with young judges, and adds stability that each presidential term is 2 justice appointments on a slowly rolling basis.