answer:It depends on the type of election. But Justice ought to be subject to consent of the governed. In California, for the State Supreme Court (analogous to SCOTUS) and the Courts of Appeal, the Governor appoints, the legislature confirms, and periodically (every 12 years) the justices need to be okayed by the voters in an up or down vote. We have two in on the ballot today. This isn’t a popularity contest, but Justices that rule contrary to the sense of the people can be removed. In 1986 Chief Justice Rose Bird and two others were removed from the bench, because they overturned 100% of Death Penalty appeals because of opposition to the Death Penalty, not because of any defects in the law or trials. .