Judicial misbehavior

“United States Constitution, Article 3, Section. 1. The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish. The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, ...”

My plain, simple English thinking understands this as meaning Congress has ultimate authority over the courts, and responsibility to assure proper administration of the laws. People who pay attention to court rulings have seen increasing numbers of rulings from either incompetent or activist judges being overturned by the Supreme Court. This wastes both public and private money, and the time of the courts. One simple law, if passed by Congress, and approved by the president, could reduce or eliminate judicial misbehavior.

That law would mandate the Supreme Court decide if the case should have been resolved at lower court level because similar cases had already been decided by the Supreme Court. The judge in the lowest court should have known, or actually did, that the ruling would be overturned. Actions of the lowest court, and the appeals court, had only delayed justice. If the Supreme Court rules lower courts delayed justice by ignoring prior rulings, then counters for judicial misbehavior of the individual judges involved would be increased. When the count from the Supreme Court for the specific judges crosses the line (perhaps three or five), the judges would be removed from their positions. They would also be banned from future work in any legal profession.

Some people think the Constitution should be considered a living document, interpreted according to today’s English language due to technology’s evolution, not the original meanings when written. Wrong. The Constitution was based on human psychology and morality. The exception for technology evolution would be the army. Soldiers brought their own personal weapons to the battle fields in the Revolution and War of 1812. Cannons could be made relatively quickly. Much more time was required to build military ships which explains Article I, Section 8’s difference “To provide and maintain a Navy” versus “To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to the Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years.” The Founding Fathers did not want a standing army as a potential threat to the citizens. The Second Amendment recognized the right and duty for citizens to protect themselves, their families, and our country.

People in three professions: legislators, judges, and educators, have great influence on our country. Perhaps we should require all to have at least 25 or 30 years real world work experience before going into those professions. How can a person who lacks real world work experience properly understand and guide, judge, inspire, or teach? Perhaps we should remember an old saying: “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” But the best teachers draw upon experience, because they did work and now they inspire!

Thomas Fancher is a Moses Lake resident and avid letter writer to the Columbia Basin Herald. He can be reached at tech2116@nwi.net.