In a recent Justia blog post, Illinois Law dean and professor Vikram David Amar considers the idea of term limits for federal judges, prompted by recent remarks from Senator Charles Grassley, Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

He writes:

"Ironically, while so-called life tenure for federal judges (including and perhaps especially Supreme Court justices) was intended to insulate federal judges from politics so that they will act apolitically in deciding cases, in reality life tenure encourages Supreme Court justices to be overly mindful of politics—in particular the partisan political landscape of the White House and the Senate—in deciding when to retire."

Read the full post at verdict.justia.com.