Bill Text: HI HCR49 | 2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Supreme Court Justices; Limited Tenure; Constitutional Amendment

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-03-22 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on FIN with Representative(s) Tupola, Ward voting aye with reservations; Representative(s) McDermott, Thielen voting no (2) and Representative(s) Kawakami, Kobayashi, Kong, Luke, Pouha, Rhoads excused (6). [HCR49 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2016-HCR49-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	49
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2016
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

urging a constitutional amendment to establish fixed terms for justices of the supreme court of the united states.

 

 

 

WHEREAS, Article II of the United States Constitution provides that the United States President shall appoint Justices to the Supreme Court "by and with the advice and consent of the Senate"; and

 

     WHEREAS, Article III of the Constitution provides that Supreme Court Justices "shall hold their offices during good behavior," which has been interpreted to mean that Supreme Court Justices may serve for the remainder of their lives unless they resign, retire voluntarily, or are removed by impeachment; and

 

     WHEREAS, lifetime judicial tenure provides Supreme Court Justices with tremendous power and influence; and

 

     WHEREAS, advances in science, medicine, and technology have made it possible for Justices to serve much longer than in the era of the Framers; and

 

     WHEREAS, between 1789 and 1970, Justices served a cumulative average of 14.9 years on the Supreme Court before retiring; and

 

     WHEREAS, Justices retiring between 1970 and 2005 served an average of 26.1 years on the Court; and

 

     WHEREAS, the last four Justices to leave the Court served there for an average of twenty-eight years; and

 

     WHEREAS, lifetime judicial tenure makes the timing of appointments to the Court completely arbitrary; and

 

     WHEREAS, throughout American history, some Presidents have had the opportunity to appoint several Justices while others have appointed none; and

 

     WHEREAS, judges do not enjoy lifetime tenure on constitutional courts of any other major democratic nation; and

 

     WHEREAS, creating a prospective system of fixed, nonrenewable, staggered, eighteen-year terms for Supreme Court Justices would create regular vacancies and allow each President to influence the composition of the Court; and

 

     WHEREAS, under the proposed system of fixed terms, a vacancy would occur on the Court every two years, allowing every one-term President to appoint two Justices and every two-term President to appoint four; and

 

     WHEREAS, many legal scholars agree that establishing a system of fixed terms for Supreme Court Justices would require an amendment to the United States Constitution; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2016, the Senate concurring, that the members of Hawaii's congressional delegation are urged to introduce legislation proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to establish a prospective system of fixed, nonrenewable, staggered, eighteen-year terms for Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to each member of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Supreme Court Justices; Limited Tenure; Constitutional Amendment