The appointment and conformation to the Supreme Court has become on of the most sought after and most prestigious positions in the U.S. Government. In the past two hundred years the Supreme Court has changed in many different ways and with each decision affecting the delicate balance of the U.S. legal system the appointment of justices has become a very watched over subject. In all conformation and appointment to the Supreme Court there is politics involved but with each presiding president their agenda is focused towards appointing a justice that expresses their ideas on the court.
The Appointment process is delegated to the president in Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution and states, “shall nominate, and by with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges to the Supreme Court, and all other officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law. Which means that when a justice leaves the president can appoint a replacement to the court however the Supreme Court must confirm them with a majority vote.
When a justice decides to step down the current president must make a very important decision in going through the hundreds of qualified judges. Since the beginning of the Supreme Court there has been 108 members, which makes it one of the most exclusive government jobs in the world. All but four of the justices have been white male two were female and the other two were black. There is no age limit on how old a justice may be, and no requirement that a justice must be from the United States. There is one common trend that all justices have is that they have all been lawyers. However many justices never graduated or even attended law school, they gained their legal experience by others means. John Rutledge and john Blair received their legal experience at the Inns of Court in England. James F. Byrnes received his legal experience as a law clerk and passed the bar at age 24, even though he never graduated from high school.2
Since all of the justices have been lawyers most have been judges before being appointed to the Supreme Court, forty-one justices have had experience at the state level and thirty-one at the federal level. The ...
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...s at Stanford Law, first was William H. Rhenquist had been first, only to find out that being a woman could only get her a job as a law clerk.3 She was confirmed by a 99-0 vote the largest margin in history.5
In the Supreme Court the confirmation process is getting harder and harder to pass for nominees who have certain political opinions about certain topics. In 1987 Robert Bork, a member of the Court of Appeals in Washington D.C., was nominated by Reagan. Bork was not confirmed by a 58-42 vote because of his writings on constitutional topics that were not appeasing to the senate.1
The Supreme Court currently has six white males, two white females, and one African American sitting on the Court today. I believe this will change very soon because most of the justices are getting rather old, but it doesn’t mean they lack judgment. In the near future whether it will be president George W. Bush or another president the court will change and it is my opinion that we will see and hear on of the most important conformations in history.
In America’s time there have been many great men who have spent their lives creating this great country. Men such as George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson fit these roles. They are deemed America’s “founding fathers” and laid the support for the most powerful country in history. However, one more man deserves his name to be etched into this list. His name was John Marshall, who decided case after case during his role as Chief Justice that has left an everlasting mark on today’s judiciary, and even society itself. Through Cases such as Marbury v. Madison (1803) and McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) he established the Judicial Branch as an independent power. One case in particular, named Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), displayed his intuitive ability to maintain a balance of power, suppress rising sectionalism, and unite the states under the Federal Government.
Gevinson, A. (2009, July 28). Supreme Court Nominations | Teachinghistory.org. Retrieved February 19, 2014, from http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/22435
Judicial Tyranny: The New Kings of America? Is a conglomeration of articles and short essays that attempts to expose the federal court’s relatively recent intrusion into our way of life by way of immoral legislative influence; made possible by presidents, congressmen, and apathetic voters who have relinquished their consent without contest. The author, Mark I. Sutherland and his associates believe that the Constitution’s system of checks and balances between the three branches of government has been usurped by an overreaching, immoral federal court system. The book explores how Judges have been influencing and shaping social and political policy for years by legislating from the judicial bench. In short, Americans have exchanged the rule of law for the rule by the judges. However, it does a poor job in addressing other major issues concerning the federal court system as a whole.
Supreme Court and Court of Appeals judges are elected in nonpartisan statewide elections. Mid-term vacancices are filled by appointment. State law requires that nominees are state residents and have practiced law for a minimum of seven years.
Anthony Kennedy is known for his conservative views while having a sided decision that focuses on individual rights, Kennedy join the U.S Court of Appeals in the 70’s and in 1988 in which he was appointed by Ronald Reagan. As a young boy he became in contact with prominent politicians and developed affinity for world of government and public service. Kennedy grew up around law at an early age because his father work his way through law school to build a substantial practice as a lawyer, while his mother was active in civic affairs. Starting at a law office Kennedy acted what would be his lifelong interest in education; he then accepted a position to teach constitutional law at the University of Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law. In Kennedy’s years of private practice as he followed his father’s foots steps in political affiliation in the Republican Party.
Jost, Kenneth. "The Federal Judiciary." CQ Researcher 8.10 (1998). CQ Researcher. SAGE Publications. Web. 01 Mar. 2011. .
There are 7 justices and 1 chief justice within the high court. 7 justices will be required for constitutional cases and 5 justices are required for cases in regards to different matters.
During the years the Supreme Court has gone through some changes of its’ own. While Chief Justice Earl Warren was there the first African-American Justice was named to the court: Thurgood Marshall. Chief Justice Warren’s leadership marked a force in social issues. Along the lines of desegregation, election reform and the rights of defendants.
The Supreme Court, which sees almost 150 petitions per week, called cert petitions, must carefully select the cases that they want to spend their time and effort on (Savage 981). If they didn’t select them carefully, the nine justices would quickly be overrun, so they have put in place a program to weed through the court cases to pick out the small number they will discuss. There are a few criteria that are used to judge whether or not a case will be tried. The first is whether or not the lower courts decided the case based on another one of the Supreme Court’s decisions for they will investigate these in order to withhold or draw back their conclusion that they made in their court case. Another is the case’s party alignment: sometimes the justices will pick cases that will align with their party beliefs, like trying to get a death row inmate off of his death sentence. They also make claims about the “life” of the case- the Supreme Court only hears “live” cases- they do not try to go back in time and re-mark a case that has long since been decided (Savage 981). Lastly, they like to take cases where the lower courts did not decide with one another -these cases can have t o do with interpretations of the law that have been left up to the lower courts and should be specifically defined by the Supreme Court (Savage 982).
Prior to serving as the Chief Justice of the United States, Roberts served in many positions withing the legal field. Upon graduation for Harvard Law School he served as a law clerk for Judge Henry Friendly on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. After about a year, he clerked for the future Chief Justice, William...
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how Chief Justice John Marshall affected the American Judicial System. The reader will therefore first find a brief biography of John Marshall. Then the paper will explain in detail the origins of the Judicial Power to subsequently...
Hall, Kermit L, eds. The Oxford guide to United States Supreme Court decisions New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
The American Court System is an important part of American history and one of the many assets that makes America stand out from other countries. It thrives for justice through its structured and organized court systems. The structures and organizations are widely influenced by both the State and U.S Constitution. The courts have important characters that used their knowledge and roles to aim for equality and justice. These court systems have been influenced since the beginning of the United State of America. Today, these systems and law continue to change and adapt in order to keep and protect the peoples’ rights.
The significant impact Robert Dahl’s article, “Decision-Making in a Democracy: the Supreme Court as a National Policy-Maker” created for our thought on the Supreme Court it that it thoroughly paved the way towards exemplifying the relationship between public opinion and the United States Supreme Court. Dahl significantly was able to provide linkages between the Supreme Court and the environment that surrounds it in order for others to better understand the fundamental aspects that link the two together and explore possible reasoning and potential outcomes of the Court.
Kate Malleson remarks that even the current recruitment pool which is dominated by middle aged successful barristers does seem to evoke John Griffith's theory of judicial conservatism. However, the apparently conservative composition of the judiciary does not necessarily mean that it gives preference to traditional views. In contrast to the US Supreme Court, there is little concern whether a UK judge’s social and political views a...