Til Death Do Us Part (Again)

 

("End the Poisonous Process of Picking Supreme Court Justices")

Today's Op-Ed  in the New York Times echoed virtually every thought I laid out in a letter to the editor nearly two years ago (October 7, 2018 blog post). I now post it again for those whose may have a vague recollection of my words, or who may have "missed it" first time around.

My tongue firmly in cheek question is if I am entitled to co-authorship credit

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"A Better Way to Confirm a Justice" -

I suggest that the premise of your question is wrong, putting the cart before the horse. It is not, or should not be, the hearings that are tweaked but rather the process itself that is in DIRE need of radical reform.

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Til death us do part. 

If there was one lesson to be taken from the Garland to Kavanaugh fiasco that played out over these past two years it was that the time has come to face head on the ugly reality of lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court.

Our founding fathers lived in a universe markedly different from ours. It has been a near quarter of a millenium since the birth of this nation and death has receded farther and farther from our collective being with each new medical advancement. We stay healthier and fit longer and our capacity to be productive, or destructive, members of society has lengthened with each passing decade.

Term limits for our highest office in the land were codified in the 22nd Amendment, passed by the 36th state (There were only 48 states at the time) in 1951, in clear response to the only President who ruled for more than two terms in this nation's history. Concerns  on the length of power of the presidency were voiced from the time of the framers of our Constitution forward. But it was only the reality of FDR's tenure that spurred this nation to action.

We are now at such a point in history regarding appointments to the Supreme Court. On the next occasion sane people are in position of power, the first order of business should be to call for a constitutional Amendment for an 18 year term limit for a Supreme Court Justice. Come Hell or Mitch McConnell during each four year presidential term there will be two new appointments to the highest court (and with its effect, the current Justices would be unseated in FIFO order). 

The bloodbath we have recently witnessed will thus never be repeated, the urgency to rule this land in perpetuity having been muted. 

We stand at one of the lowest points in the arc of this nation. If we do not treat the disease now infecting us with immediacy and urgency it will continue to fester and make us sicker and sicker.

Til death do us part.