Justice

I continue to wonder when the US will get around to doing something about its antiquated arrangements for populating the bench of their Supreme Court.

Appointments for life may once have been a good way to insulate the supreme justices from the vagaries of day to day politics, working well enough when most people died in their sixties, with physical health carrying most of them off before mental health became an issue.

Whereas now, compulsory retirement at 70 or so sounds a better way - a bridge I think we crossed in the 1980's when the late Lord Denning carried on for too long, and for whom see reference 1. Better still, appointments for fixed terms of 10 years with no possibility of reappointment. Limited, regular tenure. Which would make the business of appointing new ones much more regular. Perhaps timed to fall in the middle of the fixed term presidencies.

But I dare say all this sort of thing is written into their (US) constitution and it would take a prodigious amount of effort and consensus to achieve any change - so this is not going to happen any time soon.

It is ironic that the dying wish of the justice who died a few days ago was to be replaced by someone of her own persuasion: if only she had stepped down while Obama was in the chair, she might of had her wish. Which all goes to point up the human frailty of even the cleverest people. Particular when they are getting on a bit.

PS 1: I associate to the dismal failure of our own Queen to step down in good time.

PS 2: some hours later: I have now remembered that both the candidates for president are comfortably over 70 years old. Neither of them are going to want to draw attention to this defect by having a go at judges. So the citizens have even longer to wait.

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Denning,_Baron_Denning.