Democrats were able to get President Joe Biden to step aside after a pressure campaign. But it’s much more difficult to force out a federal judge.
At the age of 97, Judge Pauline Newman is the oldest full-time federal judge on the bench, but despite concerns about her ability to do the job, her colleagues are struggling to get rid of her.
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When Democrats decided after President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance that he was no longer fit to serve at the top of the ticket, a multifaceted pressure campaign was able to convince him to step aside.
But federal judges, as well as Supreme Court justices, have lifetime appointments and there is no easy process for easing them aside.
With people generally living longer, a lifetime appointment can now last many decades. The average age of a federal judge is 69, according to a recent study, and there is no clean way to force someone to step down.
We need a maximum age for all government positions in the US. The science says at around 70 is when humans start losing their mental faculties (on average).
It’s not just about that though: The government shouldn’t be run by old people! And by, “old” I mean over 70. That way there’s no ambiguity.
It think it might work better to do a maximum length of service. Will generally have the same effect but should make it easier to keep from having a huge number of people rotate out at once, which would be pretty disruptive.
I like the idea, but they are generally added in batches.
A president nominates a bunch of people, them they go through the betting and approval process.
Example: the 234 judges put in place by Trump.
Make it a maximum age that increases with life expectancy. Want to remain longer in government? Work to increase the average life expectancy of the entire populace.
Keeping people alive longer doesn’t necessarily mean they stay capable of doing their jobs longer. It should be a fixed age that’s only changed if there’s a breakthrough in preventing cognitive decline.
I would say they should be tested for mental acuity but they would just game the system somehow.
35 is the minimum age to be President. 17 years from being an adult. So perhaps go 17 years below the median life expectancy, somewhere around 60?
That’s not really a good idea… Just because life expectancy could go up doesn’t mean that a person’s cognitive function will remain the same if they live longer.
A senator could have the mental capacity of a toddler at 110 even if the life expectancy at the time were 150.
Even if we have super geniuses at 150 we should still be giving control of the government to people under 70. Let the “young” run the country.
Just impose mandatory annual fitness tests after the retirement age. No clue how it’s in America, but here that’s how it works with driver’s licenses (tho it’s not annual, but every 2 years). I mean most jobs require some fitness test, so why not positions is power? (rhetorical question, it answers it self)
