Throughout the most recent scrambling to appoint a new Supreme Court Justice, I cannot help but see some flaws in the system, most importantly that there is a scramble in the first place. Supreme Court Justices are supposed to be the most influential non-biased judges in the country; it is concerning that it matters to such an extent whether they are conservative or liberal. This goes against the expectation that they remain non-biased and means that even the Supreme Court is susceptible to the rift between political parties afflicting this country.
The Constitution also states that a Justice “shall hold their Offices during good Behavior,” thus they can remain on indefinitely unless they are impeached for wrongdoings. This makes the appointing of justices all the more significant, escalating the intensity with which our two parties vie for the power to appoint whomever they want.
As previously stated, a Supreme Court Justice’s term can last until death. I believe this gives far too much power to the administration in office at the time of nominating a new Justice. So as not to ignore the elephant in the room, I have been pondering this issue due to Donald Trump’s nomination of Brett Kavanaugh and the aftermath. I am considering term limits in particular because Kavanaugh is currently only fifty-three years old and would likely be a justice on the Supreme Court for three decades. The ability for Donald Trump — or any president, for that matter — to affect the justice system for so long when he is only in office for four years is absurd, especially when he himself is under investigation by the FBI.
Kavanaugh is also currently being investigated for sexual assault. This is very concerning to me not only because he may be guilty and was nominated to became a Supreme Court Justice, but also because of the reactions of people to it.
People immediately divided down political lines, with Republicans defending and Democrats attacking him dueto a want for the next Justice to belong to their own political party. Yes, it is more complicated than this, but that is the base urge that I saw when people first began discussing it. The fact that we all feel the significance of this decision to the extent of ignoring facts and choosing sides immediately is outrageous. It means that we have let the power struggle seen in other branches of the government influence the Supreme Court.
Sadly, bias is innate within humans, and thus we will always have Justices that are more likely to lean towards one end of the political spectrum. However, our goal as a nation should be to appoint Justices as close to the center as possible. We must also urge our government to impose a term limit. This will give less power to any one administration and hopefully calm everybody down slightly, as they will be looking at a ten-year term rather than a possible three decade one.
