POL 1 Lecture 17: Lecture 12-1
Document Summary
These justices are appointed, not elected (unlike other key govt leaders) Terms are not limited, last as long as the justices live. President"s choices have to be ratified by senate. In 227 years, we have had only 17 chief justices. American public overwhelmingly supports a retirement age mandate but this has not been implemented. No real contact -- conflict of interest. Outside citizens are expected to contact court through expensive, labor intensive legal briefs. Other branches of govt have been democratized but court hasn"t. Court isn"t like the other branches, so it shouldn"t really matter. President, commander in chief, holds the sword. Congress holds the purse and the power to make law. Scotus has neither force nor will, but merely judgment. Unelected nature of court doesn"t matter because decisions are governed by past case law. Only in the most unusual circumstances can the court overturn past case law. Plessy vs. ferguson -- court originally upheld reconstruction customs but.
