A Creative way to reform the US Court system

Are you tired of activist judges in the federal court system? Judges who (allegedly) have appointments for life, and who are therefore unaccountable except that they can be impeached? [NOTE: And that almost never happens, since impeachment is so difficult to engineer.] Are you tired of five-to-four decisions of the Supreme Court, which seem to indicate that no one really knows what the Constitution means? If they did know, we'd surely see more 9-0 decisions - or at least 7-2.

There is a creative way to make a profound change in our federal judiciary, which would not require a Constitutional amendment. This would introduce greater accountability. I propose a contractual approach based on an oath, which only the US President can enable. Primary season will soon be upon us, though hopefuls for their party's presidential nomination are currently jockeying for advantage. I hope one of these hopefuls will make the following one of his campaign promises:

QUOTE:

I will not nominate any person to be a judge in the courts mentioned in Article III, Section 1 [quoted below] - both the Supreme Court and the "inferior" courts - who will not sign the following contract:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of Justice/judge of [for example] the U.S. Supreme Court for a period of five years, after which I will resign from that office. Failure to resign, I here and now freely stipulate, will constitute a violation of the "good behavior' rule mandated by Article III, section 1 of the Constitution. Such a violation would and should subject me to a well-deserved impeachment and removal from office.

:UNQUOTE.


For the Record:

The yellowed part below makes clear that the judges involved do not have life-time appointments as is commonly assumed. I am using the idea of "during good behaviour" and the fondness for oath taking which our Constitution embraces in order to advocate for this radical change. Of course, once a judge resigns upon completion of his 5-year term, he could be renominated and reconfirmed by the Senate.But of course his successful resumption of office would depend on whether his conduct while in office is judged to have been an example of "good behaviour."

QUOTE:

Article III, Section 1:

The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court, and in such inferior courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The judges, both of the supreme and inferior courts, shall hold their offices during good behaviour, and shall, at stated times, receive for their services, a compensation, which shall not be diminished during their continuance in office.

:UNQUOTE.

This idea, establishing five-year terms, is something I came up with when I had run for president in 2012. I had incorporated this concept into my binding electoral contract, which is here:

http://ind4prez2012.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-electoral-contract-of-steven-searle.html

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Steven Searle, just another member of the

Virtual Samgha of the Lotus and

Former Candidate for US President (2008 & 2012)

Contact me at bpa_cinc@yahoo.com