From a book review by Chief Justice Gerry Alexander of the Washington State Supreme Court:
[Consider] the poignant story surrounding the resignations of two [U.S. Supreme Court] justices of the period, Robert C. Grier and Stephen J. Field. Grier, who began his service on the Court in 1846, began to show signs of severe mental decline in the 1860s. By 1869, his thinking became so muddy that a delegation of his fellow justices waited on him and asked him to resign, and he did soon thereafter. A relatively new member of the Court at that time was Justice Field. Ironically, many years after Justice Grier’s resignation from the Court, Justice Field’s mental condition also began to decline. Eventually, the then-Chief Justice, Melville Fuller, and other Justices of the court determined that the old gentleman should be urged to resign. Justice John Marshall Harlan was delegated the responsibility of calling on Justice Field in order to encourage his resignation. Harlan approached this onerous task by reminding the elderly Justice Field of what he understood was Field’s own visit with Justice Grier many years before. To this entreaty, the old man is alleged to have said, “Yes, and a dirtier day’s work I never did in my life…”
The law has since changed to permit Federal judges to retire with all or most of their pay after a certain age, to encourage them not to hang on long after the ravages of age or senility have made them a burden on the court.
In Canada, the federally appointed judges originally held office for life, and there were similar stories floating about.
In the 60s, there was a constitutional amendment to impose a retirement age of 75 for all federally appointed judges. That, coupled with a generous disability plan, means that we don’t hear the same sort of stories about doddering judges anymore.
we must get rid of bad judges by constitutional amendment taking the judicial review committee out of hands of judges and placing in hands of state legislative judicial review committee with one attorney on committee to act only as an advisor. It appears judges are protecting other judges and not you and I. Call your congressmen and senators and demand a constitutional amendment. Call your friends and tell them to call the congressmen and senators. If any one has an e-mail list of our congressmen and senators e-mail me at subsafe688@aol.com and put on the this blog for all to obtain.
