Staggering Justice Terms

Hersfold

Hersfold

TNPer
TNP Constitution, Article V, Section 2, Clauses B and C:

B - The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices shall serve a term of six months. The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices shall be Members of the Regional Assembly who shall hold no other office during their tenure as judges.

C - The term of office of the Chief Justice and Associate Justices shall begin on the first day of the months of August and February. Nominations and referendums for the full term shall take place during the months of July and January. The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices shall be nominated by the Prime Minister with the advice and consent of the Cabinet, and during the interim period between the creation of a vacancy in the office of Chief Justice or an Associate Justice and the confirmation and installation of a successor to that office, the nominee shall serve as an acting judicial officer on the Court of The North Pacific and have the authority to exercise the duties and responsibilities of the office.
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Since we currently have a rather consipicuous lack of Justices, and there has been a call to appoint the Associates, I came up with an interesting idea that's sort of based on the US Congress. We elect legislators for six-year terms, but rather than electing all 300-some-odd all at once, the terms are staggered by two years. Only 1/3 of the Senate and House are elected at any given time. This way, it is guaranteed that at leats 2/3 of Congress is somewhat experienced, and you don't have the huge problem of electing everyone at once. With some states having 50+ Representatives, that creates a bit of an issue.

Anyway, we could use the stagger we've inadvertently created to our advantage and set up this system within the Courts. All we would need to do is tweak these two Clauses a bit, and we're guaranteed to have at least one Justice at all times. So here we go:

An Amendment to the Constitution, Article V, Section 2, Clauses B & C:

In order to stagger the terms of the Chief and Associate Justices, the clauses named above shall be amended to the following:

B - The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices shall each serve a term of six months. The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices shall be Members of the Regional Assembly who shall hold no other office during their tenure as judges.

C - The term of office of the Chief Justice and Associate Justices shall begin on the first day of the months of August and February. Nominations and referendums for the full term shall take place during the months of July and January. The term of office of the Associate Justices shall begin on the first day of the months of May and November. Nominations and referendums for the full term shall take place during the months of April and October. The Chief Justice and the Associate Justices shall be nominated by the Prime Minister with the advice and consent of the Cabinet, and during the interim period between the creation of a vacancy in the office of Chief Justice or an Associate Justice and the confirmation and installation of a successor to that office, the nominee shall serve as an acting judicial officer on the Court of The North Pacific and have the authority to exercise the duties and responsibilities of the office.
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Edited as follows:
Un-slashed last bit of Clause C ("and during the interim period...of the office.")
 
Hers, I would keep the last part of Clause C. Basically, the court should have three members for appeals or for petitions that require the full complement of three justices as much as possible.

and during the interim period between the creation of a vacancy in the office of Chief Justice or an Associate Justice and the confirmation and installation of a successor to that office, the nominee shall serve as an acting judicial officer on the Court of The North Pacific and have the authority to exercise the duties and responsibilities of the office.
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Otherwise put, what if a nominee is not confirmed?
 
Hersfold:
Since we currently have a rather consipicuous lack of Justices, and there has been a call to appoint the Associates, I came up with an interesting idea that's sort of based on the US Congress. We elect legislators for six-year terms, but rather than electing all 300-some-odd all at once, the terms are staggered by two years. Only 1/3 of the Senate and House are elected at any given time. This way, it is guaranteed that at leats 2/3 of Congress is somewhat experienced, and you don't have the huge problem of electing everyone at once. With some states having 50+ Representatives, that creates a bit of an issue.
Click to expand...
The Fact Police Step in

Every single member of the lower house of congress (House of Representatives) gets re-elected every other year.

1/3 of the upper house (Senate) gets re-elected every 6 years. Each state has 2 senators. So during one election period out of 3 there might not be a senator running from a individual state.

EDIT: Thank you :bunny:
 
AlHoma:
Hersfold:
Since we currently have a rather consipicuous lack of Justices, and there has been a call to appoint the Associates, I came up with an interesting idea that's sort of based on the US Congress. We elect legislators for six-year terms, but rather than electing all 300-some-odd all at once, the terms are staggered by two years. Only 1/3 of the Senate and House are elected at any given time. This way, it is guaranteed that at leats 2/3 of Congress is somewhat experienced, and you don't have the huge problem of electing everyone at once. With some states having 50+ Representatives, that creates a bit of an issue.
Click to expand...
The Fact Police Step in

Every single member of the lower house of congress (House of Representatives) gets re-elected every year.

1/3 of the upper house (Senate) gets re-elected every 2 years. Each state has 2 senators. So during one election period out of 3 there might not be a senator running from a individual state.
Click to expand...
Ah. Ok, close enough. :P
 
Any more comments on this? It would probably be best to get this voted on before or while the PM/Cabinet is appointing the Justices...
 
Sorry for the triple post, but if there are no more comments I'll send this in to Wizard for a vote. Thanks, all!
 
Interesting idea, although I doubt this will help to prevent a lack of justices.
But it will take away some pressure in case all justices decide not to go for a second term.
 
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