Alex Frost Values: Law & Society 9/23/2014 The Hollow Hope Introduction and Chapter 1 Gerald Rosenberg begins his book by posing the questions he will attempt to answer for the reader throughout the rest of the text: Under what conditions do courts produce political and social change? And how effective have the courts been in producing social change under such past decisions as Roe v. Wade and Brown v. Board of Education? He then works to define some of the principles and view points 'currently' held about the US Supreme court system.
In 1995, the Supreme Court decided the landmark case U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton. The court ruled that states cannot impose qualifications for prospective members of the U.S. Congress stricter than those specified in the Constitution. After the recent ballot measure adding an amendment to the Arkansas Constitution that denied ballot access to any federal Congressional candidate having already served three terms in the U.S. House or two terms in the U.S. Senate, was challenged on the grounds that the new restrictions amounted to an unwarranted expansion of the specific qualifications for membership in Congress enumerated in the U.S. Constitution: “No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five
Also, the Judiciary act established the number of justices
The quality of judges would without a doubt increase if they were appointed. However, I do not agree with the idea of judges being appointed. When looking at the partisan aspect you notice several possible issues with one issue being, is that individual the right person to do the job. Partisan election of judges allows for an individual that may not be as qualified for the job to be elected into the position. Nevertheless the partisan election of judges gives the voters what they want based on party affiliation along with qualifications.
The argument/famous Supreme Court case Madison vs. Marbury asked us the question should the Judicial Branch be able to declare laws unconstitutional. I think the Judicial Branch should be able to declare a law unconstitutional. I believe this because the judicial branch is very small, they have no other checks on any other branch, and they don’t receive any money. The Judicial Branch is so small.
Enactment of term limits Term limits will help in increasing electoral competition by increasing the number of open seat elections. However, there is an assumption since there is little evidence that joins this, and on another case when an incumbent goes for reelection, competition is suppressed by term limits. Term limits make the elections to be less competitive but on the other hand, they increase the number of open seats contest (Sarbaugh, 2002). Political parties play a major role in political competition and their strength is measured by their ability to exert control over their candidates who are on the ballot papers.
Presidential Term Limits As one of the most powerful titles in the world, presidential term limits will always be a center point of political arguments and it is my belief that the voters should be able to “write- in” a previous president after his “2-term (8 year) limit”. While proposals have been made over the years by many different people at different power levels within the government, the main goal was to keep a dictatorship from forming in America. Bryan Putney, Arthur Capper, Jeremy Paul, and Stephen C. Erickson all felt the same about the fact that term limits need to be established, but differed on what the “term limit” should be.
For example, this article by Robert Longley states that “people who choose to serve in Congress should do so for noble reasons and a true desire to serve the people, not just to have a perpetual well-paying job” (“Why Members of the US Congress Do Not Face Term Limits”). This basically means that the members of Congress should not only go to work everyday thinking about completing the task at hand for their job that day, but also they should be thinking that the reason they are doing this job is to benefit the people of the United States. I think that term limits should be applied to the members of Congress because there could be other people that want to serve in Congress for the betterment of the American
Congressional term limits have been what restricted the amount of time that anyone can work in office whether it be to a representative, senator, or even the president. People have debated over keeping or losing the term limits, since each come with their own benefits and faults at the same time. In the argument for term limits, some may argue that they are necessary because, “Congress will be more responsible toward their constituents because they will soon be constituents themselves” (Weeks). The validity in this statement proves to be one of the strongest arguments because the creation of laws is mean to serve all people, and if the people in office had complete immunity, it would serve unfair and unjust to the rest of society. For this reason, it always will make those in office consider how impactful and
This shows that the supreme court didn’t vote in what they believed in and rather wanted to help out their own party. If even one of the Federal Supreme Court Justices would have voted for what they actually believed in, then the outcome of the election could have been very
Term Limitation of Congress In America, it is a constant debate whether members of congress should be term-limited. Many people believe that the current members of congress have been in their position for too long and are subject to prejudices and old ideas. Although, the terms of house and senate should not be limited due to the fact that, the power to change a representative is in our hands as well as we, as a country, do not need a congress with little experience.
Overwhelming power frequents in corruption, so if we limit the power, we limit the corruption. These term limits will allow politicians not to be elected because of their upper hand of power accumulated previously, or their precedence, but for the true quality and merit of the candidate. Lastly, the fact that a majority of Americans support these term limits is a good example that this is what the states want and believe is best for their
The Supreme Court 's ruling changed the American Government forever. "It was therefore perhaps the single most important moment of the decade" (Tackach 9). The decision motivated citizens to reach equality. It also challenged those who greatly opposed the new changes, to be more open minded.
39 The president has had a limit on the number of terms he can be in office, but Senators and Representatives have never had term limits. There is an ongoing debate on whether there should be term limits or not for Senators and Representatives. Many citizens believe U.S. Senators and Representatives should be limited in the number of years they serve in Office. Having term limits will provide a change of people and offer up new ideas. Leading the way, Republican Senator Sam Brownback told NBC News that he is retiring this year because he has limited himself to serving only two full terms.
We enjoy our ability to exercise our rights in the voting booth. With that in mind, electing judges serves the will of the people and makes us feel as though we have a measured amount of control over the judicial system. This requires judicial candidates to expose their lives to public scrutiny and represent their voting pool. Conversely, appointed judges would have an easier time concealing truths about themselves that they would prefer the public not see. Favors among close circles of officials are likely easier to be traded in secret.
