That last item got me wondering… what are the checks and balances on the judicial system? Is there any mechanism by which judges who make consistently biased, uninformed, or unconstitional decisions (and hence, have their decisions overturned an inordinate percentage of the time) are disbarred?
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Usually, other judges are the checks and balances. Judges are the few people within our government that have extraordinary power within their courtrooms, and can do just about anything they want that isn’t prohibited by law. If a judge does something unusual as you described in your previous post, your only chance is to appeal and have whatever judgement made against you overturned by another judge.
It’s kind of scary since judges only answer to other judges, and can only be impeached by a board of their peers, or simply voted out of office at election time, unless the judge is appointed for life as they are on the supreme court.
Usually, other judges are the checks and balances. Judges are the few people within our government that have extraordinary power within their courtrooms, and can do just about anything they want that isn’t prohibited by law. If a judge does something unusual as you described in your previous post, your only chance is to appeal and have whatever judgement made against you overturned by another judge.
It’s kind of scary since judges only answer to other judges, and can only be impeached by a board of their peers, or simply voted out of office at election time, unless the judge is appointed for life as they are on the supreme court.
I was also just thinking along those lines…
This judge is probably an elected official, and unlikely in that region to be removed by that method…
The subject of impeaching judges has been a recurring one on the Rush Limbaugh Show…apparently congress does have the ability to remove judges from office, it just takes political will.
I was also just thinking along those lines…
This judge is probably an elected official, and unlikely in that region to be removed by that method…
The subject of impeaching judges has been a recurring one on the Rush Limbaugh Show…apparently congress does have the ability to remove judges from office, it just takes political will.
I’ll be my gemini self on this…
yeah.. on the one hand.. it kinda freaks me out how few checks there are on judges power… while it is true that their decisions can be overturned by other judges–and it is also true that they cannot really overturn statutory law so easily. (i.e. a judge cannot just proclaim that the local “murder statute” is now null and void because he doesn’t like it.. )–they still are relatively independent and powerful…
of course, on the other hand, these traits also make them somewhat crucial for our government.. i.e. if you make judges completely depedent/subject to the political whims of either the executive or the legislative branches.. then we would be even more likely to see weird shit like in the Shiavo case.. where it was only that local florida judge (and then the us appeals and supreme court judges who declined to intervene) that kept the US congress and teh president himself from being involved in the private decisions of an american family..
So.. I guess, the main problem is that we, more than ever, always need to have good, ethical people in as judges–ones who respect the law–whether they be liberal or conservative in their outlook..
one thing that I think also needs to be fixed is congress now.. with all the gerry-mandering crap that has gone on, something like over 90% of federal elections to Congress are basically uncontested… Which sucks..
Re: I’ll be my gemini self on this…
What bugs me is that, while most flagrantly unconstitional rulings get overturned, a judge can basically keep churning them out anyway, putting people to greater expense in order to see justice served. It would be nice to see some kind of failsafe built into the system where if, say, 90% of a Judge’s decisions are overturned a red flag is automatically raised.
Re: I’ll be my gemini self on this…
What bugs me is that, while most flagrantly unconstitional rulings get overturned, a judge can basically keep churning them out anyway, putting people to greater expense in order to see justice served. It would be nice to see some kind of failsafe built into the system where if, say, 90% of a Judge’s decisions are overturned a red flag is automatically raised.
I’ll be my gemini self on this…
yeah.. on the one hand.. it kinda freaks me out how few checks there are on judges power… while it is true that their decisions can be overturned by other judges–and it is also true that they cannot really overturn statutory law so easily. (i.e. a judge cannot just proclaim that the local “murder statute” is now null and void because he doesn’t like it.. )–they still are relatively independent and powerful…
of course, on the other hand, these traits also make them somewhat crucial for our government.. i.e. if you make judges completely depedent/subject to the political whims of either the executive or the legislative branches.. then we would be even more likely to see weird shit like in the Shiavo case.. where it was only that local florida judge (and then the us appeals and supreme court judges who declined to intervene) that kept the US congress and teh president himself from being involved in the private decisions of an american family..
So.. I guess, the main problem is that we, more than ever, always need to have good, ethical people in as judges–ones who respect the law–whether they be liberal or conservative in their outlook..
one thing that I think also needs to be fixed is congress now.. with all the gerry-mandering crap that has gone on, something like over 90% of federal elections to Congress are basically uncontested… Which sucks..