SENATE BILL: Judicial Tenure Amendment (Failed)

[Ban my account ffs!]

While lifetime appointments to the supreme court IRL make sense as an added check and balance to a system that is mostly elected fixed-term officials, Atlasia bears little resemblance to real life in that respect.

As such, I think while this amendment proposal is in the right spirit, it does not do nearly enough to reform perhaps the least dynamic part of the game.

I think it's time for Atlasia to seriously consider major reform in the judicial branch.  This is not an attack on justices Ebowed, Bgwah, or Opebo, who have all done their duty well under the current system.

But in a game where the average term is 4 months, it is unrealistic to have lifetime appointments precisely because those appointments have not turned over in a realistic matter to the much faster time frame of the game.

My main point is completely changing the judicial branch.  Two main ideas are worth considering:

1.  A peoples or citizens court.  This court would be purposely disorganized and would demand participation from the citizenry.  This would basically be an "Althingization" of the judicial branch of the federal government.  Unlike IRL, where most "players" are not politically active or particularly involved, the citizenry of Atlasia is very tuned into the goings on.

The obvious drawback is that without a proper oversight apparatus, decisions could be made that run contrary to the law of the land.  So that would obviously need to be addressed.  But it would put the interpretation of the law into the hands of the citizenry, in whom all political power inherently rests.

2.  We dismantle the Supreme Court as it stands and appoint odd-numbered randomly selected juries to each court case.  This could be overseen by an appointed judge who presides over, but does not have the ultimate decision in the case.  In this fashion, the judge would ensure that the law of the land is followed while still allowing complainants and defendants to be judged by a jury of their peers.

In the current system, there are accusations of inequity and unfairness and personal feelings getting into the legal process because we have three justices who have absolutely no incentive not to do this.  They have enough popular support to quell impeachment proceedings, which themselves are personal and probably unfounded.

A judicial system that involves the citizenry in a relatively controlled atmosphere would ensure fairness. 

We could even incorporate the current justices into the system, where one of the three justices is picked at random to preside over cases so as to ensure fairness.

We should have a calm, collected conversation about this.  Whatever your opinion on the current judicial system, it is clear in amendments like these that serious reform is needed to bring the judicial branch in line with the other two branches of our governmental system.

Thanks.