"The Supreme Court’s attacks on voting rights are about rigging elections for Republicans," said Rep. Greg Casar, the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
6 years is a terrible idea. It would allow even 1-term Presidents to select a majority of the justices and get whatever they want, and a 2-term President to appoint every seat.
18 years is correct. It’s the shortest term that doesn’t allow a 2-term President to appoint a majority of the justices (resignationsand draths notwithstanding).
You could be correct. It’s a good problem that could be presented to mathematicians. Find the smallest number that prevents a single President from appointing a majority of SCOTUS justices. Mathematicians would be permitted to change the number of justices. The problem with 18 is that a bad justice would serve a long time, but it might be the only solution.
The number of justices isn’t the reason for 18 years. It’s the length of Presidential administrations. A single administration is normally limited to 8 years, so the length of the SCOTUS term has to be more than double that to prevent them from nominating half the justices.
6 years is a terrible idea. It would allow even 1-term Presidents to select a majority of the justices and get whatever they want, and a 2-term President to appoint every seat.
18 years is correct. It’s the shortest term that doesn’t allow a 2-term President to appoint a majority of the justices (resignationsand draths notwithstanding).
You could be correct. It’s a good problem that could be presented to mathematicians. Find the smallest number that prevents a single President from appointing a majority of SCOTUS justices. Mathematicians would be permitted to change the number of justices. The problem with 18 is that a bad justice would serve a long time, but it might be the only solution.
The number of justices isn’t the reason for 18 years. It’s the length of Presidential administrations. A single administration is normally limited to 8 years, so the length of the SCOTUS term has to be more than double that to prevent them from nominating half the justices.
True, but it might be difficult to impose term limits because the Constitution says SCOTUS justices have lifetime appointments.