Seeing that from outside the USA it’s completely baffling that judges need to declare the party they root for (what if they vote for an independent candidate? 🤔) and that it’s expected of them to show personal bias in their ruling instead of… You know… Acting like judges that are there to impartially apply the rule of law?
You have to have elected judges, judges appointed by a politician, or judges appointed by a non-politician (like a board of other judges). There are pros and cons to each, this is not one of the problems that the US has which are solved in the rest of the Western world.
You’ll never completely eliminate all possible bias from human beings serving on a nation’s highest court, but out of the things that could be done, the United States is doing exactly nothing.
Judges on the Canadian Supreme Court are similarly appointed by the executive (they just have a Prime Minister instead of a President) so that isn’t the problem.
You’re missing the point, Canadian judges don’t have to tell which party they support so there’s no expectation from them and it’s much harder to make a call before the case begins what the judges’ opinion will be even if they’ve been put in place by a specific party.
Not really, it happens pretty often that the supreme court rules against what would be the wish of the government and it’s pretty sad that a Canadian would believe otherwise.
supreme court rules against what would be the wish of the government
Can you site an example of that? I mean where the supreme court rules that the legislature can’t do something that it tried to do. Not just the executive excercising power it doesn’t have. From my understanding, in the Canadian system the legislature effectively has absolute power as it is the directly elected body and meant to represent the will of the people.
It’s because judges are appointed by the executive branch. So, if they don’t tell the president or governor which party they’re with they might not get appointed. It’s a fucked up system and could potentially lead to authoritarianism.
They should make a law that it is illegal to require a judge to state their political affiliation. If a judge is considered for a higer court their record should be used to determine their suitability.
Judges simply shouldn’t be nominated by one single person, particularly if that person is the de facto leader of his political party. And confirmation of judges simply shouldn’t be possible purely based on how many seats that same party holds in the Senate and, in a worst case scenario, without any kind of bipartisanship purely along party lines.
Because that essentially means that Supreme Court judges are nominated and confirmed by the political parties.
Apart from maybe a president being able to single-handed determining Supreme Court judges, almost any other system would be better. Including - as shitty as that would be - direct election of Supreme Court judges by the entire electorate.
Seeing that from outside the USA it’s completely baffling that judges need to declare the party they root for (what if they vote for an independent candidate? 🤔) and that it’s expected of them to show personal bias in their ruling instead of… You know… Acting like judges that are there to impartially apply the rule of law?
You have to have elected judges, judges appointed by a politician, or judges appointed by a non-politician (like a board of other judges). There are pros and cons to each, this is not one of the problems that the US has which are solved in the rest of the Western world.
You’ll never completely eliminate all possible bias from human beings serving on a nation’s highest court, but out of the things that could be done, the United States is doing exactly nothing.
After first trying every other option, we always do the right thing!
Since when?
We’re still on that first bit
Haha this got me good, and with a mouthful of coffee to boot
less than that, actually.
Well, looking at how partisan the supreme Court is it clearly is a problem in the USA that doesn’t seem to affect its northern neighbor…
Judges on the Canadian Supreme Court are similarly appointed by the executive (they just have a Prime Minister instead of a President) so that isn’t the problem.
You’re missing the point, Canadian judges don’t have to tell which party they support so there’s no expectation from them and it’s much harder to make a call before the case begins what the judges’ opinion will be even if they’ve been put in place by a specific party.
American Supreme Court justices don’t have to tell which party they support either.
yes because they bend to the whim of the executive/legislature
Not really, it happens pretty often that the supreme court rules against what would be the wish of the government and it’s pretty sad that a Canadian would believe otherwise.
Can you site an example of that? I mean where the supreme court rules that the legislature can’t do something that it tried to do. Not just the executive excercising power it doesn’t have. From my understanding, in the Canadian system the legislature effectively has absolute power as it is the directly elected body and meant to represent the will of the people.
How about one from just a month and a half ago?
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/bakx-scoc-ruling-1.6995962
And their multiple rulings on minimum sentences and sentences adding up (like in the USA) and so on…
It’s because judges are appointed by the executive branch. So, if they don’t tell the president or governor which party they’re with they might not get appointed. It’s a fucked up system and could potentially lead to authoritarianism.
They should make a law that it is illegal to require a judge to state their political affiliation. If a judge is considered for a higer court their record should be used to determine their suitability.
Judges simply shouldn’t be nominated by one single person, particularly if that person is the de facto leader of his political party. And confirmation of judges simply shouldn’t be possible purely based on how many seats that same party holds in the Senate and, in a worst case scenario, without any kind of bipartisanship purely along party lines.
Because that essentially means that Supreme Court judges are nominated and confirmed by the political parties.
Apart from maybe a president being able to single-handed determining Supreme Court judges, almost any other system would be better. Including - as shitty as that would be - direct election of Supreme Court judges by the entire electorate.