Washington DC – Capitol Hill: United States Capitol – East front (Photo credit: wallyg)
Our Federal government has three branches, executive, legislative and judicial, and two of the three are elected periodically. Only the judicial branch is not elected and enjoys lifetime tenure. I think that it is time to end the lifetime tenure of the Federal judiciary, especially the US Supreme Court, which tends to lag behind necessary change by years or decades.
This is what I propose to put all three branches of the Federal government on an equal footing; limit all Federal elected offices and the Federal bench to serving a maximum of 12 years. Judges would continue to be nominated and confirmed, but they would serve only for 12 years. Judges are expected to be non-political, but some try to game the system, timing their retirements to when their party is in the White House. That must stop.
For the other two branches, I would also limit their terms to 12 years.
Six 2-year terms for members of the House
Two 6-year terms for Senators
Three 4-year terms for Presidents.
Under the present two-term limit for Presidents, speculation begins immediately about the next election after a President is-re-elected. That reduces a President’s ability to enact needed reforms during his/her second term. The possibility of a third term would give an incumbent President more time to accomplish the will of the people who elected him/her.
Related articles
- What happens when voters want term limits (quinnscommentary.com)
- Thomas Sowell: A Real Term Limit (conservativeread.com)
