Text 6978, 45 rader
Skriven 2010-04-12 18:25:44 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
   Kommentar till text 6869 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Question about democracy
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11 Apr 10 12:31, Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Robert Bashe:

 RB>> 1. The Supreme Court Judges, nine of them, are proposed by the
 RB>> President and confirmed by the Senate. They are appointed for life
 RB>> to protect them against political pressure, i.e. they are only
 RB>> responsible to the law (Constitution) and their own conciences.

 MvdV> What you are saying is that they are accountable to no one and are
 MvdV> appointed for life. How does that differ from the position of a
 MvdV> dictator?

Under normal circumstances, it is true that a Supreme Court justice is
awarded a lifetime commission. That doesn't make them a dictator.

However, a Supreme Court Justice may be impeached by the House of
Representatives and removed from office if convicted in a Senate trial,
but only for the same types of offenses that would trigger impeachment
proceedings for any other government official under Article I and II of
the Constitution.

Section 1 of Article III states that judges of Article III courts shall
hold their offices "during good behavior." "The phrase "good behavior" has
been interpreted by the courts to equate to the same level of seriousness
the 'high crimes and misdemeanors" encompasses. You might remember that
Clinton was impeached using this clause.

In addition, any federal judge may be prosecuted in the criminal courts
for criminal activity. If found guilty of a crime in a federal district
court, the justice would face the same type of sentencing any other
criminal defendant would. The district court could not remove him/her from
the Bench. However, any justice found guilty in the criminal courts of any
felony would certainly be impeached and, if found guilty, removed from
office.

In the United States, impeachment is most often used to remove corrupt
lower-court federal (also state and local) judges from office, but it's
not unusual to find disgruntled special interest groups circulating
petitions on the internet calling for the impeachment of one or all
members of the High Court.

                R\%/itt

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