You could set up a court-like system where respected judges decided whether promises had been violated or not.
Which authority decides who’s a respected judge? You not only have to defend the court against perception of bias but also about being actually biased because you pick the wrong people to be judges.
If the judges are on government payroll, can the politicians who control the government reduce the salary of the judges if the judges come to a conclusion that the government doesn’t like?
There are already supreme courts with political powers which are paid from the public purse. It’s not an easy problem to solve, but it is not unsolvable.
It’s not an easy problem to solve, but it is not unsolvable.
I don’t think ‘solve’ is binary. Different solutions come with different tradeoffs.
Membership of supreme courts is made up by judges chosen by political majorities. There are advantages to having a powerful fourth estate that’s independent of the other three.
As a practical matter getting a parliament to pass legislation that introduces a new class of people that check whether or not the members of that parliament are holding their promises also seems unrealistic.
Which authority decides who’s a respected judge? You not only have to defend the court against perception of bias but also about being actually biased because you pick the wrong people to be judges.
If the judges are on government payroll, can the politicians who control the government reduce the salary of the judges if the judges come to a conclusion that the government doesn’t like?
There are already supreme courts with political powers which are paid from the public purse. It’s not an easy problem to solve, but it is not unsolvable.
Yes, and they suffer from the problems Christian describes to the extent that they actually use their political powers.
I don’t think ‘solve’ is binary. Different solutions come with different tradeoffs. Membership of supreme courts is made up by judges chosen by political majorities. There are advantages to having a powerful fourth estate that’s independent of the other three.
As a practical matter getting a parliament to pass legislation that introduces a new class of people that check whether or not the members of that parliament are holding their promises also seems unrealistic.