The Supreme Court should be above politics and focused on the law. When the Framers wrote the Constitution, they wanted to keep the judicial branch the one arm of government less influenced by politics to balance out the other two branches. Supreme Court justices have lifetime tenure and are selected via a political appointment process with the President’s nomination and Congressional vetting and approval. Since justices have lifetime tenure, and make decisions that deeply influence Americans’ lives, citizens should have a say in whom they want on the court upholding their rights. An amendment that makes the selection of justices should be considered: The President nominates five qualified candidates to fill the spot on the bench, Congress
…show more content…
Supreme Court justices set the direction of the Court and the ideals that guide it for multiple generations. The current process of appointing new judges is problematic because it takes away from the main purpose of the Supreme Court: interpreting legal decisions, without the influence of outside political biases and matters. The task of appointing a new Supreme Court justice was a hot topic of the 2016 presidential election. After Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing, the Supreme Court was split between four conservative justices and four liberal justices. President Obama nominated a candidate to fill his seat, but the Republican Senate did not confirm his nomination because they did not want another liberal judge to replace Scalia, and decided to wait until the newly elected President to make the nomination. Filling the vacant spot on the court is incredibly influential because “just one vacancy and appointment can switch the court from 5-4 on an issue (or many issues) to 5-4 the other way” (Reynolds). The result of the election and the dominating political party on the court plays a pivotal role in the direction of the Supreme Court. The current method of selecting justices even took away from the purpose of a presidential election. For …show more content…
It would be harder to gather the supermajority all of the states because it would result in more efforts lobbying all of the state legislatures, rather than focusing on lobbying in Washington D.C. and concentrating on the U.S. Congress. Even this path will make the amendment process difficult to pass because the idea of voting for justices is polarized. Electing the justices will always remain ideological. If citizens were to vote on their justices, they would simply vote on justices who align with their political beliefs, turning it into another “political” election. Surveys and polls conducted by Gallup, Pew Research, Annenberg Public Policy Center, and the American Council of Trustees show that the general public barely knows the functionalities and structure of the Supreme Court let alone can they name the justices on the Supreme Court (Bomboy). If the justices were selected through an election process, people will most likely vote randomly by picking the most “intellectual” or “qualified” sounding
Supreme Court justices set the direction of the Court and the ideals that guide it for multiple generations. The current process of appointing new judges is problematic because it takes away from the main purpose of the Supreme Court: interpreting legal decisions, without the influence of outside political biases and matters. The task of appointing a new Supreme Court justice was a hot topic of the 2016 presidential election. After Justice Antonin Scalia’s passing, the Supreme Court was split between four conservative justices and four liberal justices. President Obama nominated a candidate to fill his seat, but the Republican Senate did not confirm his nomination because they did not want another liberal judge to replace Scalia, and decided to wait until the newly elected President to make the nomination. Filling the vacant spot on the court is incredibly influential because “just one vacancy and appointment can switch the court from 5-4 on an issue (or many issues) to 5-4 the other way” (Reynolds). The result of the election and the dominating political party on the court plays a pivotal role in the direction of the Supreme Court. The current method of selecting justices even took away from the purpose of a presidential election. For …show more content…
It would be harder to gather the supermajority all of the states because it would result in more efforts lobbying all of the state legislatures, rather than focusing on lobbying in Washington D.C. and concentrating on the U.S. Congress. Even this path will make the amendment process difficult to pass because the idea of voting for justices is polarized. Electing the justices will always remain ideological. If citizens were to vote on their justices, they would simply vote on justices who align with their political beliefs, turning it into another “political” election. Surveys and polls conducted by Gallup, Pew Research, Annenberg Public Policy Center, and the American Council of Trustees show that the general public barely knows the functionalities and structure of the Supreme Court let alone can they name the justices on the Supreme Court (Bomboy). If the justices were selected through an election process, people will most likely vote randomly by picking the most “intellectual” or “qualified” sounding