The Issues, No. 11 - The Federal Judiciary

The third branch of the government, the Judicial Branch, according to the White House web site, "hears cases that challenge or require interpretation of the legislation passed by Congress and signed by the President. It consists of the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts". In other words, Congress, the Legislative Branch, creates laws; the Executive Branch, with the President as its leader, carries out and enforces the laws; and the Federal Courts, the Judicial Branch, hears cases where federal laws are challenged or require interpretation.


One problem with the Judicial Branch is that federal judges are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. This means that the nominations often become the victim of partisan politics and are delayed, particularly when the President is not of the party that has the majority in the Senate. As a consequence, the number of vacancies increases and it becomes difficult, at times, for the judiciary to keep up with its caseload. I don't know what the solution is for this problem but I am not happy that partisan politics interferes with our system of justice. Maybe term limits for Senators would solve this problem too, as well as the other problems we've discussed previoulsy related to the Senate.


There are some people who believe that another problem with the judiciary is that federal judges are appointed for life. I'm not sure this is a problem except when a judge becomes too old to function productively and hasn't the sense to retire. If anything, I would be for a mandatory retirement age for judges, including the Supreme Court justices, of 65 or 70. This would help to free up positions for judges that are being occupied by individuals who are no longer capable of carrying full time caseloads and, at the same time, keep the judiciary relatively young and vigorous.