Life Tenure

Life Tenure in the United States

Term used to describe the effect of the constitutional language establishing the tenure of federal judges. Under terms of Article III, Section 1, all federal judges of constitutional courts “shall hold their offices during good behavior.” This, in effect, means for the rest of their professional lives. The life tenure provision, as well as the Article III language forbidding Congress from diminishing the salaries of incumbent federal judges, was designed to promote judicial independence. The only way a federal judge may be removed is through the process of impeachment. Provisions exist under statute for sanctioning federal judges in ways less severe than removal from office. The life tenure protection exists only for federal judges. State judges, even those selected by executive or legislative appointment, serve terms of specified length.

See Also

Judicial Independence (Judicial Personnel issue).

Analysis and Relevance

The “good behavior” provision means that federal judges have virtual life tenure. Federal judges can be removed for misconduct, however, and Congress has the authority to implement removal procedures. The impeachment process requires the House of Representatives to bring charges, with a trial of those charges following in the Senate. The House has seldom brought impeachment proceedings against federal judges, and only five have been convicted and removed from office. Impeachment charges are usually for criminal conduct. In 1936, U.S. District Judge Halsted Ritter was accused of corruption and removed for bringing his court into “disrepute.” The most recent removal of a federal judge occurred in 1986 when U.S. District Judge Harry Claiborne was impeached on charges related to income tax evasion. While the impeachment process has seldom been taken to conclusion, it may be used in leveraging a resignation from a judge who is unlikely to survive the process. In 1980, Congress enacted legislation authorizing the Judicial Council of each circuit to investigate complaints filed against judges. If the complaint has merit, the council may request that the judge retire, reprimand the judge, or order that no cases be assigned to the judge. In extreme cases, the council may recommend removal to the House of Representatives.

Notes and References

  1. Definition of Life Tenure from the American Law Dictionary, 1991, California

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