Why do our justices wait until death to leave their jobs? He should have left the post with some dignity, passing the torch with some advise and consent.

 

Tradition. Tradition borne from judges being appointed for life. That's where the mistake is being made. Only dictators should be appointed for life.

So, what's up with Sandra Day O'Connor? She's not a traditionalist, I suppose.

 

It also seems to be tradition to appoint a new chief justice rather than select one from the current crew. That strikes me as rather odd. Any theories behind the reasoning?

 

An appointment is a way for the sitting president to leave a legacy. He doesn't want to elevate, so to speak, a justice appointed by a different president. He wants to make his own appointment.

 

That's kinda what I figured. How sad that it boils down to ego and arrogance. I would be prone to promote one with prior Supreme experience, myself (unless none met with my approval, of course). From what I understand, that is almost unheard of.

 

Appointments can backfire, too. Take David Souter for example. He was appointed by papa Bush as a conservative. He pretty much takes a moderate path and adheres to the rule of law. That's gotta **** off all the Bushes.

He really cranked it to the conservatives when he recently supported the ruling expanding local governments' powers over eminent domain. That pisses off most people, except for big developers and anyone who gets to spend local taxes.

 

I think that one pissed just about everybody off. God help us all -- we don't already have enough friggin' mini-malls...

 

I've been in court. Judges act like dictators. They only answer to a jury or other judges. Fortunantly, they must obey the law.

 

Well, I honestly don't know how else you could run a court. Especially a criminal court.

Don't all people in charge act like dictators? Some are nicer dictators than others, but when push comes to shove, it's their way or the highway.

 

You are right. A dictatorship is more efficient and can move more swiftly than any group think system. You have to be VERY careful selecting one though...

Just think, the president gets to select a nice dictator and live with the results for life. A bunch of lawyers designed our country and THEY get to be dictators, er... judges. Congress restricts power through legislation (rules). Too bad the trend has been to create law IN the courts.

To quote Michael Savage "The stench from the bench is making makes me clench."