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Friday 1 May 2009

A fixed term limit would end these perverse incentives. Give Justices 12 years of service and not a day longer. Let the political system prepare for vacancies rather than be caught by surprised. But in the absence of such a change, long-livedness remains a primary characteristic for judicial decisions. So Obama will look to choose a Justice who’s relatively young. But he might also look to choose a Justice who’s relatively female. According to CDC data, a 65-year-old man can, in 2005, expect to live for 17.2 more years. A 65-year-old woman gets another 20 year from the actuaries. And an Asian-American woman can expect to live even longer than that. Think this sort of speculation is unseemly? Sure it is. But it’s built into the system we’ve set up. If we don’t want age to be such an important governing factor, then we should reform the system such that it isn’t. Ezra Klein

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