U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) here says he will introduce a constitutional amendment to provide that the voters of the nation could vote to retain or reject U.S. Supreme Court Justices every eight years.
This is a revolutionary idea. The United States has never held a national election. All elections in U.S. history have always been statewide, or lesser geographical units, never national. In presidential elections, each state’s voters choose presidential electors for that state; there is no single election for President in a technical sense. The United States has never had a national referendum or a national advisory vote.
In order to hold a retention election for U.S. Supreme Court justices, one presumes there would need to be a national election law determining voter qualifications. Currently voter qualifications are determined by each state, even for federal office. That is why ex-felons can’t vote in some states but they can vote in other states. That is why 17-year-olds can vote in federal primaries in some states but not other states. It will be interesting to see if Senator Cruz’s constitutional amendment proposes a uniform rule on who is eligible to vote. It would also be interesting to see what the campaign finance rules would be for members of the Court, if they had to run in retention elections. Recently the Court upheld a Florida rule barring state court judges, or candidates for a state judicial office, from asking for campaign contributions.
It is likely that all members of the U.S. Supreme Court would look on this proposed amendment with disdain. And it is not difficult to imagine that many voters who views are utterly different from Senator Cruz would still support his amendment. Thanks to PoliticalWire for the link.
It says that it would require a majority from 25 states, plus an overall majority.
Bad idea. The better solution is one proposed by Professor Carrington (Duke Law School). He argues that term limits should be put in place. https://law.duke.edu/features/2006/reformingthecourt/. This is not a response to Friday’s opinion or any other opinion; it is a non-partisan position that has been argued for a number of years and has been embraced a significant number of Constitutional Law experts.
One would hope that further nationalization of the right to vote would lead to a stronger democracy and lessen ballot access restrictions, among other possible improvements.
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There have been over 10,000 proposed Constitutional amendments, with dozens more in every 2-year Congress. Somehow, this one doesn’t sound very realistic.
Alabama Governor George Wallace advocated the same thing only it was for all judges, federal, state, and local. They would have to face a re-confirmation vote by the Congress, state legislature, or the voters every ten years.
Michael,
Thank you for reminding me, I recall the American Independent
Party had that George Wallace plank it its Platform circa 1968.
I recall that then San Francisco County Central Chairman of the American Independent Party, viz., Judith Summerland told
me about it while I was a Student as San Francisco State College in 1968. That was about 47 years ago.
Senator Ted Cruz however should not be running for POTUS because he was naturalized a citizen of the United States
circa October 1977 and he has never been naturalized in the
State of Texas under the 1869 statue for Texas naturalization,
viz., he has a second class citizenship not covered under the
14th Amendment. Bottom line Ted Cruz is not a natural born
citizen. He was just naturalized outside of the United States
so the 14th Amendment to the constitution does not apply to him.
Sincerely, Mark Seidenberg, Chairman
American Independent Party of California
Ted is a moron and a closet liberal!
If we had elections for SCOTUS judges, then you can bet those judges that actually uphold the constitution, including the Second Amendment, could be easily voted out of office by the indoctrinated masses that think supporting the constitution is a right-wing racist thing.
Seriously, making this a reality will backfire on conservatives big time in the long run.
Not a smart idea
This is Crackpot City.
This idea put forth by Senator Cruz doesn’t pass the smell test with me myself.
Uniform definition of Elector-Voters in ALL of the U.S.A.
P.R. and nonpartisan App.V.
Ballot access only by equal nominating petitions.
NO party hack primaries, caucuses and conventions.
Due to the computerized gerrymanders, Democracy is almost DEAD in the U.S.A. — i.e. the POWERMAD monarchs / oligarchs are now in CONTROL. It shows — undeclared wars, insane deficits and govt debts, dying cities, etc.
Ted Cruz is right. This is an idea that I have for a long time to have elected judges. I hope this desire will come alive. One day I will be voting to elect The United States Supreme Court Justices. I do not believe in giving permanency of such an important position to just 9 justices so they can decide all the hell they want without the consideration of the citizens of the nation for which they should work. I thought of Chief Justice Roberts to be a judge for the people, but instead, he sold himself for the political influential power sponsoring the Obama Healthcare Plan. My sister purchased the plan believing it was the best choice of her life, but now she cannot even use the insurance because her deductible is so high that she cannot afford to visit doctors. That is the Obama plan that trapped many into his hidden lies. I hope one day it will be defeated and something better will come on the way. We need to elect judges of the people and not judges of the president’s agenda.
Yes Ted Cruz. Go ahead with this great idea! I will vote to elect the US Supreme Court Justices