REQUIREMENTS
Unlike presidents , senator , and representatives , there are no requirements for Supreme Court Justices . The laminitis decided against have the people or just one branch of government select them because , as James MadisonwroteinThe Federalist Papers , justices needed to possess “ peculiar qualities . ” ( In the same schoolbook , Madison explains why the appointments are for life story , saying “ the permanent incumbency by which the appointments are held in that department , must soon demolish all sense of addiction on the authority confer them . ” ) Justicescan be young(Joseph Story was 32 when he became a justice in 1811 ) , old ( Horace Harmon Lurton was 65 ) or even foreign born ( six justices were , most of late Felix Frankfurter , who was contain in Vienna ) . While every Supreme Court Justice has had a practice of law scope in some shape or another , that ’s not a demand either . According to the Supreme Court’swebsite , James Byrnes ( who was appointed 1941 ) did n’t even calibrate high school . He was exclusively ego - instruct in law before slip by the bar at 23 . But go to an Ivy League school surely helps . Of theeight currentSupreme Court Justices , four went to Harvard , three go to Yale , and one went to Columbia ( Scalia was also a graduate of Harvard ) .
Justices can also be recede Justice . This has happened twice , once with John Rutledge ( more on him in a endorsement ) and again with Charles Evans Hughes . Hughes wasappointedto the Supreme Court by William Howard Taft and in 1916 relinquish so that he could execute as the Republican prospect against Woodrow Wilson . After losing , Hughes performed a serial of line of work in politics until Herbert Hoover appointed him Chief Justice to replace the same Taft that appointed him in the first place . That means that a United States President would be within precedent tore - nominatea former Supreme Court Justice .
HOW WILL THE NOMINATION HAPPEN?
The process is relatively aboveboard . The President of the United States pick a worthy candidate , and thatcandidate is senta questionnaire that touches on almost every aspect of their life history . After that , there ’s a hearing before theJudiciary Committee(which at themomentis comprised of nine Democrats and 11 Republicans , including Presidential prospect Ted Cruz and former candidate Lindsey Graham ) , which is followed by more written query . After all of the questions are answer , the Committee vote on whether to send the nomination to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation , an unfavorable recommendation , or no recommendation at all .
As can be imagine , this has recently beenpartisan . Obama ’s current two Justices , Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor , both received near - political party blood votes , with Lindsey Graham erupt grade both multiplication . Bush ’s option of Samuel Alito was similarly break open . The last someone to endure this process with a unanimous vote was Stephen Breyer in 1994 .
The most beastly nomination was probablyRobert Bork ’s . Bork was picked by Ronald Reagan to be a new Justice . Immediately upon his announcement , the Democrat - controlled Senate pounced . Less than an hourafter the announcement , Ted Kennedy delivered a speech wherehe saidthat , “ Robert Bork ’s America is a land in which charwoman would be pull into back - skittle alley abortions , blacks would sit at unintegrated lunch comeback , rogue police could relegate down citizens ' door in midnight raids , schoolchildren could not be teach about evolution , writers and artists would be ban at the whim of governance , and the doorway of federal courts would be exclude on the fingers of millions of citizen for whom the judicatory is often the only defender of the individual right that are at the heart of our democracy . ” Almost everyone agree that Kennedy was beingextremely hyperbolic , but after awkward questioning ( when expect why he want to be an Associate Justice , Bork’sresponsewas “ it would be an noetic feast ” ) , the Judiciary Committeevoted 9 - 5on largely party line of credit to send the nomination to the full Senate with an unfavourable recommendation ( then - Republican Arlen Specter joined the Democrats in the unfavourable camp ) .
After the nominee makes it through that physical process , the balloting go to the full Senate , where a mere majority is needed . But that can take a long metre . Louis Brandeis , put forward on January 28 , 1916 , did not invite a concluding vote until June 1st , 125 days by and by [ PDF ] . It could have been worse : After Henry Baldwin die in 1844 , President Tylerattempted to nominatea replacement . He examine putting up Edward King , which got prorogue . So he try out Edward King again , and that sentence the nominating speech was withdrawn . Tyler then post up John Read ; the Senate just ignored him . That was it for Tyler ’s presidency , so it was Polk ’s turn . He first tried George Woodward , who was turn down 29 - 20 . Polk tried again with Robert Grier , and over two yr after Baldwin pall , his seat was finally fill again . Tyler had similar ( bad ) fortune occupy Smith Thompson ’s seat . All enjoin , Tyler would propose six unlike people a expansive total of nine time and managed one verification ; which ties him with FDR as the United States President with the second most nomination to the Supreme Court after Washington .
WHAT IF THE SENATE’S NOT IN SESSION?
TheConstitutiongives the President the “ world power to fill up all vacancy that may happen during the Recess of the Senate . ” But the assignment expires at the end of the next session . So while the President can make an appointment , it ’s onlytemporary ; the Senate needs to vote on the campaigner one agency or the other . It ’s a power that has been used15 times , include with John Rutledge .
John Rutledge , in return for his role in drafting the Constitution , was appoint and confirmed as the Court ’s first elderly associate degree justice . But he never croak to any of the meeting and soon step down to go to a lower courtyard in South Carolina . In 1795 , the first Chief Justice , John Jay , was set to retire , and Washington returned to Rutledge . At the time however , the Senate was in recess — which was n’t a problem , as long as they sustain him before the end of the next legislative session . But in between being appoint and getting support , Rutledge spoke out againstJay ’s Treaty , which was a recent accord between the United States and Great Britain that had the support of Washington himself . Rutledge was impeach ofmental incapacityand when the confirmation voting amount , Rutledge became the only recess appointment ever scorn . This suit set the significant common law that the Justice ’s political views were fair game in any nomination earreach and point that recess engagement can be temporary .
Have you catch a Big Question you ’d like us to answer ? If so , let us know by email us atbigquestions@mentalfloss.com .
