Supreme Court Justices

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Supreme Court Justices
In the United States, the current constitution stipulates that Supreme Court Justices should be appointed to serve the institution for life. In an attempt to create an independent judicial system in the country, the framers of the United States Constitution passed laws which created a life tenure term for the Supreme Court Justices. However, over time this idea has been criticized severally by numerous demerits such as lack of accountability, unsound judgment and lack of credibility. This paper will critically discuss the main reasons why the Justices of the Supreme Court should have a limited serving time.First and foremost, the problem of decrepitude is a major issue associated with the aging Supreme Court Justices. It is reported that some Judges stay in service until they become mentally debilitated and suffer from mental incompetency. For instance, William Douglas, who served for more than 37 years in the Supreme Court barely functioned in his last ten months in office after suffering a heavy stroke which greatly affected him in this period. In a realist perspective, at this kind of situation, it is relatively difficult for the Supreme Court Justices to deliver credible and sound decisions (Stuart, n.pag).
The issue of lack of proper accountability in the Supreme Court is yet another issue that makes the life tenure of the Judges inappropriate and undesirable in the current society. With less frequent appointments, the United States presidency and the senate’s democratic capability of ensuring accountability in the Supreme Court had been highly limited.

Secondly, the old age of the Justices has been pointed out as the main cause of intellectual autopilot state of the Supreme Court Judges. In this case, this situation is reported to affect their open-mindedness, and at the same, it alters the judges critical reasoning and provision of good judgment.
Work Cited
Stuart Taylor. “Life Tenure Is Too Long for Supreme Court Justices.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 28 June 2005, www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2005/06/life-tenure-is-too-long-for-supreme-court-justices/304134/.