John Roberts--future Supreme Court Justice? (no spam)

[Fiona]

He is "honoured and humbled" ?

[Faust]

Wow....I'm absolutely stunned. I wonder if this will create further difficulties for Robert's confirmation. Let's hope so. I'm wondering what Bush has in store for us in regard to the O'Connor seat, now.

[fable]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Faust Wow....I'm absolutely stunned. I wonder if this will create further difficulties for Robert's confirmation. Let's hope so. I'm wondering what Bush has in store for us in regard to the O'Connor seat, now.

Unfortunately, I think whomever Bush wants, he'll get. The Republicans won't win any votes bucking him, so they'll fall into lockstep. (The White House has previously punished party members who refused the president on important issues.) The Democrats simply don't have the votes, and even if they don't, they have all the moral backbone of a rubber tire. With a large puncture. At the botom of junkyard.

[Faust]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fable Unfortunately, I think whomever Bush wants, he'll get. The Republicans won't win any votes bucking him, so they'll fall into lockstep. (The White House has previously punished party members who refused the president on important issues.) The Democrats simply don't have the votes, and even if they don't, they have all the moral backbone of a rubber tire. With a large puncture. At the botom of junkyard.

You're probably right. Though, I imagine that Roberts is going to come across to the American public and the Senate as a bit under qualified for the chief justice spot. He may be a more difficult sale for that position than for O'Connor's spot. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

[Cuchulain82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fable I've just read the most amazing thing--now that Renquist has died, Bush is not only nominating Roberts for the Supreme Court, but for Renquist's seat instead of that of O'Connor. This means Roberts, a virtual unknown, who has barely served in the federal court system, will become Chief Justice of the US. Bush never fails to surprise me. When I think the neo-cons can't go any lower, they still find another rung or two to drop.

Fable, you might know a little more about this than I do. I have two questions:

(1) What exactly differentiates the Chief Justice form other Justices? Is it a mostly-ceremonial title, or are there real, substantive duties?

(2) Is it customary for a new nominee to go directly to the Chief Justice seat, in the process bypassing justices with experience? It seems to me, like others, to be somewhat cavalier... but I would like to know if there is precedent.

[fable]

The main differences are that in case of presidential impeachment, the Chief Justice presides over the trial, and the CJ also leads the Judicial Conference of the US--which is the chief administrative organization with power over the US federal courts. More importantly, the CJ also can write any opinion for the majority if he or she is with that group, or can delegate this as they see fit. This is an extremely powerful tool, as it basically means the CJ writes the words that will be quoted, interpreted, and used in courts throughout the land.

To be fair, there have been Chief Justices before with little or no experience in the federal judiciary (though they've served in the judiciary, elsewhere). What distinguishes Roberts is his wholesale political partisanship on a range of issues. Renquist was a diehard conservative, but his opinions rose from an overall philosophy; and he had plenty of bench experience. He took what has been traditionally called a narrow constitutional perspective. By contrast, Roberts is a neo-con with virtually no experience on the bench, who has always argued extremely controversial viewpoints from a very limited and largely untenable position, given the failures he had representing Bush before the judiciary. So Roberts will now have the opportunity to rewrite the law to suit private theory and interest--arguably something quite different from Renquist.

There's no clear precedent regarding appointing a Chief Justice. Some have been directly appointed without first serving on the Court, and others have been elevated to the position after serving as an Associate Justice--which is what happened to Renquist.