trivialities

[raincitygirl]

Justices of the Canadian Supreme Court have to retire by the age of 75. Justices of the American Supreme Court have a job for life. What if they develop Alzheimer's or some other affliction that affects their reasoning powers? Genuine curiosity here, not implying anything about any of the current justices.

Shout out to the Vancouver Public Library, very efficient, and not charging me $2 for replacement of my card. The building of the Central Branch remains kind of weird-looking from the outside, but on the inside it has tons of natural light, which libraries don't often have.

Speaking of libraries, has anybody figured out which building at the University of British Columbia is used for all the exterior shots of the Queen family home in "Arrow"? It's obviously a UBC building, but I can't figure out *which* pseudo-Gothic monstrosity it is. I thought at first it was Main Library, then the Vancouver School of Theology, but I'm really not sure. It's a little embarrassing, given that I used to live on campus once upon a time. I should be able to tell one pseudo-Gothic monstrosity from another.

Watched Liverpool v. Fulham this morning, on an HD channel, which was a weird experience. Telus threw in some HD channels for free when I switched my TV and internet to them, but nobody warned me that watching something in HD for the first time, the picture seems almost *too* sharp. Or maybe it's just me.

Edited to add: madripoor_rose says it's Hatley Castle, in Victoria, not a UBC building at all.

Comments

[twistedchick]

The justices have a fairly stiff schedule during the season; they are expected to do all of what the job entails, even though they're assisted by clerks. Historically, when a justice is no longer able to do the work, he contacts the President and lets him know that a replacement will be needed; that has generally worked. (Of course, in the current Court, it will be hard to know when Justice Thomas is unable to do the work, since he's doing so little of it now. He is known for never asking questions and writing as little as possible.)

[raincitygirl]

Ah. Good to know.

[twistedchick]

This history has kept people from being hurried into retirement whether they wanted to go or not -- for instance, both Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg have been seriously ill (O'Connor had breast cancer; I think Ginsberg had a different kind of cancer) and although the possibility of their stepping down was aired in the press, no pressure was put on them to leave. IIRC, O'Connor retired because her husband has Alzheimer's, and she needed to take care of him; it was her choice, nobody else's.