Quick point on lifetime tenure. I can't agree that removing it is the best solution; the entire point is to remove the judiciary from the same scope of political oversight that the legislative and executive branches are subjected to; to keep legal decisions from being corrupted by the current majority view rather than the state of the law or constitution. Mechanisms exist to remove judges who overstep their bounds: impeachment, and removing jurisdiction. Article III allows Congress to alter the original jurisdiction of the federal courts and the appellate of the Supreme Court; this would allow removal of certain issues from what these courts can hear and place it solely within the purview of the states.
Great blog by the way, as a law student this stuff is especially fascinating to me.
Glad you like the blog. I'm aware of the removal-of-jurisdiction powers of Congress. These haven't been used often in the past, but there are a couple of proposals in the current Congress to exercise that power. One concerns the pledge of allegiance, can't remember the other off the top of my head.
There have been seven federal judges impeached, convicted and removed from office -- three of them in the last 20 years. The recent three were charged with one type of corruption or another.
I could live with impeachment as the sole solution, if there were some history that "over-the-line" judging was impeachable. No such history exists, however.
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