Life Tenure
In a 1983 memo analyzing a Senate resolution to limit the judges to 10-year terms, Roberts questioned the desirability of lifetime tenure, arguing that when the Constitution was drafted, "people simply did not live as long as they do now" and that contemporary judges risked "los all touch with reality through decades of ivory tower existence" by becoming "insulated from the normal currents of life for 25 or 30 years." He also saw limiting the terms of judges as a good way to ensure turnover and to prevent judges from becoming too activist. This could not be extended to the Supreme Court, and Roberts' position now, because of the express constitutional requirement of a life term.
Read more about this topic: John Roberts Supreme Court Nomination, Judicial Views, Record As An Attorney
Famous quotes containing the words life and/or tenure:
“Yes, life is a woman!”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)
“A politician never forgets the precarious nature of elective life. We have never established a practice of tenure in public office.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)