Rick Perry has his shortcomings, and some of them have certainly been on display lately. But he, or maybe someone on his staff, has made some pretty good suggestions on occasion.
For example, judicial appointments. Texas state judges are elected, and few want to change that. Federal judges, on the other hand, are appointed for life, and that's where he directs this proposal: Give them term limits.
One such reform would be to end lifetime appointments to the federal judiciary, including prospectively to the Supreme Court. According to one analysis – the average tenure of a Supreme Court Justice has risen from 14.9 years between 1789 and 1970 to over 26 years for those who retired between 1970 and 2005.23
More, vacancies are occurring far less frequently, exemplified best by the 11 year stretch from 1994 to 2005 in which there was not a single vacancy.
Some of this is explained in part by an increase in life expectancy, but it is hardly healthy for a freedom-loving people to be lorded over for more than 26 years by justices who have assumed ever-increasing amounts of power to decide how we live. In addition, the nominations process has become increasingly politicized – with justices making retirement decisions based on the timing of which political party controls the White House.
(The study he cites at footnote 23 can be found here.)
He suggests 18 year terms staggered every two years, but it would not be applicable to any judge currently in place. It would require a Constitutional amendment, and that would be no small task. But term limits on Federal judges sure does sound enticing. While we are at it, term limits on Congress doesn't sound too bad, either.
Should the guy who's the longest serving governor in the state's really be lecturing others on term limits?
Posted by: Stewart | November 18, 2011 at 10:01 AM
Ha ha! Great point, Stewart.
Of course it's the voters who have to take credit/blame for Perry's long tenure.
Changing subjects -- Here's a newspaper article idea that readers might be interested in. CBS recently did a story about Congressmen/women and their insider stock trades with a focus on Boehner and Pelosi. But what about our own Congressman?
It would be quite a job getting the information, but it sure would be nice to know whether his investments relate to the business of governing.
Posted by: Geo | November 18, 2011 at 02:27 PM