From: lessgovt@gmail.com   
      
   Judges Pick Their Successors in America, Too   
   Letters, April 5, 2023, WSJ   
      
   Re: Michael Galassi’s letter “If U.S. Justices Had the Power of Israel’s   
   High Court” (April 1): By deciding when to retire, all U.S. federal judges   
   largely have the power to decide who will take their place. An individual   
   federal judge may not be    
   able to select a specific successor, but he can certainly determine the   
   ideological stripe of a successor.   
      
   With the Supreme Court, even long before a vacancy, there is so much chatter   
   around possible nominees that a retiring justice could be all but assured that   
   his desired replacement would fit the mold to continue his legacy. Does   
   anything show this more    
   clearly than the continued service of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Justice   
   Ginsburg refused to retire, died in office and was replaced by someone whose   
   values she would have abhorred, leaving the extreme left wailing and clutching   
   its pearls.   
      
   This conundrum would be eliminated if Supreme Court justices—indeed all   
   federal judges—served fixed terms of, say, 20 years. This would insulate   
   them from day-to-day political pressure as well as ensure that they wouldn’t   
   be able to game the system    
   as the end neared.   
   ---Michael Brautigam, Tallinn, Estonia   
      
   https://www.wsj.com/articles/supreme-court-justices-reform-israe   
   -america-replacement-3e282d71   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)