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Do I notice a similarity between appointed peers in the House of Lords and appointed supreme justices in the US Supreme Court in terms of cronyism?
Reply 2
Perhaps, but SCOTUS appointees have far more power in influencing the law than Lords, even Law Lords.

I'm hoping that this latest Bush appointee will be a conservative of the Adam Smith Institute style, rather than a raving creationist fundamentalist who's been born and bred on "burn the gays, for Jesus is the way!". A moderate, reasonable textualist, who will interpret the Constitution fairly and maturely, without repose to either Scalia's silliness, or the Left's anthropomorphic view of the Constitution (or rather, don't give in to Scalia, don't give in to Scalia's adversaries, don't let the debate be set by Scalia).

Or rather, a SCOTUS Justice who would hold to a broader, more liberty-oriented originalism, without Scalia's frequent manhandling of the First Amendment.
tommorris
Perhaps, but SCOTUS appointees have far more power in influencing the law than Lords, even Law Lords.

I'm hoping that this latest Bush appointee will be a conservative of the Adam Smith Institute style, rather than a raving creationist fundamentalist who's been born and bred on "burn the gays, for Jesus is the way!". A moderate, reasonable textualist, who will interpret the Constitution fairly and maturely, without repose to either Scalia's silliness, or the Left's anthropomorphic view of the Constitution (or rather, don't give in to Scalia, don't give in to Scalia's adversaries, don't let the debate be set by Scalia).

Or rather, a SCOTUS Justice who would hold to a broader, more liberty-oriented originalism, without Scalia's frequent manhandling of the First Amendment.

I doubt it. Bush is very conservative on social matters. Personally I doubt that any attempt to overturn Roe vs Wade is coming soon, but there are other things that a Justice could be useful for. Bush will also want to make sure that any successors will not be able to enact socially liberal policies, and if Bush is in a position to make the Supreme Court more socially conservative/Republican he will do os.
Well, nominee Roberts isn't exactly of the Bible-beating, gay-bashing sort, so I don't see why everyone believes that Bush would nominate someone entirely different for his second nominee.

Personally, I just hope that the next nominee will share Roberts' belief that the courts should be used as a last resort to fix society's ills.
Lord Waddell
I doubt it. Bush is very conservative on social matters. Personally I doubt that any attempt to overturn Roe vs Wade is coming soon, but there are other things that a Justice could be useful for. Bush will also want to make sure that any successors will not be able to enact socially liberal policies, and if Bush is in a position to make the Supreme Court more socially conservative/Republican he will do os.

It will be interesting to see to what degree Bush will be affected in his choice by the political pressure he is currently under. His nomination of John Roberts (after Sandra Day O'Conner's retirement) drew some flak from the left but was largely seen as a relatively moderate choice as far as I can tell. I don't see him going for anybody too controversial and with a bit of luck Rehnquist might be replaced with someone slightly more moderate.

Just out of interest will the new Chief Justice necessarily be on the court already; has it ever happened that an outsider has been chosen for the role?
englishstudent
It will be interesting to see to what degree Bush will be affected in his choice by the political pressure he is currently under. His nomination of John Roberts (after Sandra Day O'Conner's retirement) drew some flak from the left but was largely seen as a relatively moderate choice as far as I can tell. I don't see him going for anybody too controversial and with a bit of luck Rehnquist might be replaced with someone slightly more moderate.

Just out of interest will the new Chief Justice necessarily be on the court already; has it ever happened that an outsider has been chosen for the role?


Well, when the Supreme Court was first created, surely. Otherwise, it's a bit of a faux pas to select someone brand new as the Chief Justice. The role is meant to be that of the leader of the court, and a new member wouldn't exactly have the prior history with the other members to do this successfully. So, the new Chief will almost certainly be one of the justices already on the court. My guess is Thomas or Scalia, and I think Thomas has the edge, because he's a bit more reserved than Scalia and he's a minority, which scores points.
i find it really disturbing. Essentially if Bush were to chose 2 youngish conservatives then he can ensure that the supreme court will be entirely conservative for years to come.
Jamie
i find it really disturbing. Essentially if Bush were to chose 2 youngish conservatives then he can ensure that the supreme court will be entirely conservative for years to come.

I agree, it's been very unfortunate that such an inept president has been able to make two such huge choices.
Jamie
i find it really disturbing. Essentially if Bush were to chose 2 youngish conservatives then he can ensure that the supreme court will be entirely conservative for years to come.


I don't know about that. I mean, O'Connor was moderate, and Rehnquist was borderline moderate/conservative. It's not really disrupting the balance that greatly. Most see Roberts as a moderate, so, if anything, the current balance would be maintained if a conservative were chosen to replace Rehnquist's spot.
"Most see Roberts as a moderate"

If he were such a moderate then there would be little issue in his nomination.
Jamie
"Most see Roberts as a moderate"

If he were such a moderate then there would be little issue in his nomination.

Actually there is little issue with his nomination. Only the extreme left objects to him vehemently. The rest of the left is against him because Bush is nominating him. If Bush nominated Sean Penn to the Supreme Court, he would suddenly be seen as a rightist thug, too.
Reply 12
Jamie
i find it really disturbing. Essentially if Bush were to chose 2 youngish conservatives then he can ensure that the supreme court will be entirely conservative for years to come.


7 out of 9 Supreme Court justices (including O'Connor and Rehnquist) were appointed by Republicans; didn't stop 4-5 of them from being moderate/left-wing.
Reply 13
englishstudent
Just out of interest will the new Chief Justice necessarily be on the court already; has it ever happened that an outsider has been chosen for the role?


The majority of Chief Justices actually. Rehnquist had been an Associate Justice prior to becoming the Chief Justice, but the vast majority of the 16 CJ's had not previously been on the court.
Chrism
The majority of Chief Justices actually. Rehnquist had been an Associate Justice prior to becoming the Chief Justice, but the vast majority of the 16 CJ's had not previously been on the court.

Yes, that's what I'd heard but I was very surprised.
Well, well, well. John Roberts. I think that's quite a good move actually by Bush. Having said that it really depends who he nominates for the O'Conner job now. I hope he's not going for someone moderate(ish) as Chief Justice so he can sneak in a hardliner to the other role. At the end of the day I get the impression that Chief Justice doesn't make THAT much difference so he may feel he'd rather a more moderate CJ as long as he gets a right-winger into the court at all.
Reply 16
psychic_satori
Chief Justice William Rehnquist has died at the age of 80. Another Supreme Court nomination will be coming, and someone on the court will be promoted to Chief Justice. This thread can be for the ensuing speculation of who will be nominated, as well as who will become the new Chief Justice.


May he rest in peace. :frown: I really admired him and some of his 'more power to individual states' choices. It'll be interesting to see how the new Court handles its future cases...With Bush backing, I'm willing to bet if a similar Schiavo case comes up again, the outcome will be very different.
Reply 17
Gwen
May he rest in peace. :frown: I really admired him and some of his 'more power to individual states' choices. It'll be interesting to see how the new Court handles its future cases...With Bush backing, I'm willing to bet if a similar Schiavo case comes up again, the outcome will be very different.


Why? Every justice in the SC voted against Schievo's parents. Law is law, whether the judge is liberal or conservative.
Reply 18
Bismarck
Why? Every justice in the SC voted against Schievo's parents. Law is law, whether the judge is liberal or conservative.


If there's more traditional/republican influence on the bench, though, (with the new Justices) the votes could swing in the opposite direction, making the conservative choice law (ie. more Justices vote in favour of the parents)
Reply 19
Gwen
If there's more traditional/republican influence on the bench, though, (with the new Justices) the votes could swing in the opposite direction, making the conservative choice law (ie. more Justices vote in favour of the parents)


Doing so would clearly be unconstitutional, and conservative judges are much more likely to respect the letter and spirit of the Constitution than the liberal ones.

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