Free Lifetime Appointment Of Supreme Court Justices Essay Sample

The American Constitution provides for lifetime appointment of Supreme Court Justices. Once the president appoints the Supreme Court Justice, the judge holds the office for a lifetime. Article III of the Constitution allows any of the federal judges to hold office if he upholds right behaviors and does not state when judges should retire. The lifetime appointment of the Supreme Court Judges implementation was during John Marshall tenure. There are merits of the tenure of the judges.
The essential importance of lifetime appointment is to ensure that federal judges are granted the integrity of power and to protect them from interference from other arms of the ,government. The Supreme Court as it provides checks and balances it can operate independently without interference from legislative and executive. There are demerits of the lifetime tenure of the judges ( Grcic, 2011)..
Some judges remain in the office, for a very long time, despite their inability to perform their duties accordingly due to old age. They become incompetent and make unreliable decisions in their rulings making the clients to suffer. The old age lowers their productivity. They suffer from severe health diseases. They also become corrupt and arrogant because they have high powers. The judges protect people against hyperactive democracy and tyranny of the majority. Instead of the country carrying out an election, in which less proportion of people participates, the judges are consulted to make decisions ( Grcic, 2011). Other times unfair ruling make people suffer.
In conclusion, the lifetime appointment seems to have more demerits than merits. Many state and countries do not give the tenure to the judges; they are impeached on the bases of incompetence.

References

Grcic, J. (2011). Free and Equal: Rawls' Theory of Justice and Political Reform. New York: Algora Pub.