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| Home Front: Politix |
| When Federal Judges Need To Pack It In |
| 2006-07-09 |
| (original opinion) Lifetime appointment of federal judges needs to be mitigated, when those judges are no longer able to perform their jobs on the bench. A process is needed to retire those who are unwilling to accept that they are no longer capable. The late Thurgood Marshall is a good example. While his intellectual faculties, never terrific, remained, his bladder and bowel incontinence in his last few years on the bench were offensive to everyone in the room and especially to those justices sitting adjacent to him. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is more to the point. Believed to be suffering from senile dementia, she should no way be permitted to wield national power, much less drive a car, or even be outside without assistance. Traditionally, such judges were approached by a committee of their peers, and advised to retire gracefully. But today, there is an absence of grace. Federal judges with partisan sensibilities insist on being removed from office only by death. Without reform, our country is in essence, held hostage to people who are physically incapable or mentally ill, but who insist on making life-or-death decisions about our collective lives. This impairs an entire branch of government, and is untolerable now as it was when Woodrow Wilson remained President for many months, even though comatose from a stroke. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |
| #3 So what, Guliani will nominate her replacement, and the Donks will probably wish they had Bush back. |
| Posted by: Floluting Greretch3583 2006-07-09 19:21 |
| #2 You guys must be too young to remember Justice Douglas' last days. She'll stay on the bench till she breaths her last. No embarassment is sufficient to offset the loss of power. I suggest that as the President must report on the state of the Union to Congress, a justice be required tomake a televised report to the Senate annually on the State of the Judiciary. The Justice to appear would be the one who least recently appeared, including confirmation hearings. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-07-09 15:35 |
| #1 Moose- The problem here - and it's a doozy - is that although Justice Ginsburg may not be 100% (and for the record - I have never agreed with her opinions, but I have always had the highest respect for anyone on the USSC, and Alzheimer's/dementia is a horrible way for someone with that kind of mind to go. I have nothing but sympathy and prayers for her and her family.), the Donks will keep her there until she says/does something so outrageous that the matter can't be avoided. The idea of President Bush appointing a THIRD justice must fill them with horror beyond description. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2006-07-09 15:17 |