Did the founders of the Constitution intend for Supreme Court Justices to serve for life? (How long do you think they should serve?)

The average age of Supreme Court Justices is 69 years.  This fact alone brings into question whether these judges should be appointed for a lifetime.  For, judges of this age can easily be in poor health mentally and/or physically, a fact which could affect their decision-making abilities or the outcome by their absence on a case. This is one reason no one should be on the Supreme Court for a lifetime.

Another reason that a Supreme Court Justice should not sit for a lifetime is the fact that some candidates have misrepresented themselves during the confirmation process, a fact which is evidenced in their later decisions as Justices.  A case in point is Sandra Day O'Connor who was appointed by President George H. Bush, who felt that she was in accord with his conservative views.  In reality, she was not at all of a conservative view as proven in her decisions while on the Supreme Court.

A third reason that a Supreme Court Justice should not serve all his/her life is one of the reasons that a President is not allowed to serve more than eight years. If a president has an extremely radical agenda--right or left--his/her term can be ended after 8 years.  However, the nation must often suffer for possibly 20+ years under such a Justice.

Because Supreme Court Justices carry extreme power and greatly affect the nation in interpretation of the Bill of Rights, etc., their terms should be no more than eight years.