Alexander Hamilton countered this trepidation in his Federalist Paper Number 78. More simply, the judiciary would become a power of the federal government checked only by the undefined and nebulous words “good behavior” in the constitution. In fact, Anti-Federalists felt that the granting of life tenure to federal judges would make them “independent, in the fullest sense of the word” leading to an out of control judiciary responsible to no “power under heaven.” The fear, stated as an aphorism, was that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The grant of life tenure for federal judges was met with resistance. Ĭommentators have also called for a dramatic change to this seeming permanence for a variety of reasons, including the increase in life expectancy in the United States since the country’s founding, the inherent issues associated with age-related mental decline, such as senility, and the recognition that no other democracy grants life tenure to judges. The decision to appoint judges to a life tenure conditioned on good behavior is not without its opponents.
The independence of a judiciary serves two functions, the first to create a check on the other two branches the second to remove judges from the political process in order to ensure “a steady, upright, and impartial administration of the laws.” Alexander Hamilton and the majority of the framers of the Constitution believed the best way to ensure the independence of the judiciary was to install judges for a term of “good behavior.” For the past 225 years federal judges have enjoyed what commentators have described as the best job security in the country. ” One of the driving factors to grant federal judges life tenure is the premise that a judiciary in a free and functioning democracy must be independent of any other branch of government. The text reads, “The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour. Article III, Section 1 of the United States Constitution grants life tenure to all federal judges in courts established under Article III.
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