The rotating retirement is good because it gives a known number of appointments I’m each set timeframe. I would change it to 18 years so that it is every other year, otherwise a 2 term president could appoint 8/9 justices and dominate the court
This is such a spurious connection lol but I read the article anyway
The pattern probably emerged as a result of Darwinian natural selection: cicadas that naturally matured in easily divisible years were gobbled up by predators, and simply didn’t live long enough to produce as many offspring. Those who, by chance, had long, prime-numbered life spans fared best, survived longest, and left the most offspring, becoming the dominant variation of the species.
I’m glad the author actually took the time to describe the evolutionary process accurately. When I was an impressionable youngin’ arguing against evolution, a big sticking point for me was how so many people described evolution as if there was some design or guidance behind it all. Nope, just common sense chaos and lots of death
Yes, I too get annoyed when evolution is described as an active process, e.g. “evolution got us to have legs to walk”, rather than a passive selection process “evolution means that those early humans that walked were better able to successfully procreate”.
It is noteworthy to me that a prime number based length of tenure might then cause the fewest number of retirements at the same time, over time.
This is definitely the better solution. We don’t need the court experiencing major political swings during nearly every presidency.
Edit: Also, the chief justice should either be chosen amongst themselves or be the longest serving member, not randomly chosen when that spot opens.
While I am thinking about it. if we really want to depoliticize the position, as much as possible, we should consider making them lifetime public citizens after they join the court. By public citizen, I mean they become wards of the nation and can no longer make or posses money or assets. They must divest all assets to family and will be provided food, lodging, and stipends for travel or leisure for the rest of their lives. After they retire they will become Justices Emeriti who should guest lecture at various law schools and may be called in to advise or assist the sitting court when particularly complex issues arise. Any money made by a Justice Emeritus should be funneled into the cost of providing for all the Justice Emeritus.
The rotating retirement is good because it gives a known number of appointments I’m each set timeframe. I would change it to 18 years so that it is every other year, otherwise a 2 term president could appoint 8/9 justices and dominate the court
A prime number might be better, as shown by cicadas
This is such a spurious connection lol but I read the article anyway
I’m glad the author actually took the time to describe the evolutionary process accurately. When I was an impressionable youngin’ arguing against evolution, a big sticking point for me was how so many people described evolution as if there was some design or guidance behind it all. Nope, just common sense chaos and lots of death
Yes, I too get annoyed when evolution is described as an active process, e.g. “evolution got us to have legs to walk”, rather than a passive selection process “evolution means that those early humans that walked were better able to successfully procreate”.
It is noteworthy to me that a prime number based length of tenure might then cause the fewest number of retirements at the same time, over time.
This is definitely the better solution. We don’t need the court experiencing major political swings during nearly every presidency.
Edit: Also, the chief justice should either be chosen amongst themselves or be the longest serving member, not randomly chosen when that spot opens.
While I am thinking about it. if we really want to depoliticize the position, as much as possible, we should consider making them lifetime public citizens after they join the court. By public citizen, I mean they become wards of the nation and can no longer make or posses money or assets. They must divest all assets to family and will be provided food, lodging, and stipends for travel or leisure for the rest of their lives. After they retire they will become Justices Emeriti who should guest lecture at various law schools and may be called in to advise or assist the sitting court when particularly complex issues arise. Any money made by a Justice Emeritus should be funneled into the cost of providing for all the Justice Emeritus.