Under the best of circumstances, it would be impossible for Hillary to appoint bill to a court from which his license to practice was suspended for five years. Also, it doesnÂ’t suit his personality. Being a Justice requires self-discipline and living in relative obscurity. Bill Clinton could tolerate neither. Nor would he want the pay cut.
There’s nothing legally barring Bill Clinton from serving on the SCOTUS. He wouldn’t be the first former president to do so, either. President Taft went on to become the 10th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. If he wants it there will be nothing stopping him from getting it under a Hillary Clinton presidency.
Bill wants power. He wants to shape the law. He wants to be respected as an authority on all things. He wants to give his opinion, and he wants to force people to listen to it and abide by it. Being a President also requires self-discipline but Clinton redefined that. There is no doubt he would redefine the role of a Supreme Court Justice, too. He would still give his speeches and write his books and engage in his political activities (just like all the other Justices.) Being on the Supreme Court would increase his speaking fees, not cut them. And he’ll have plenty of clerks to work for him — which is even better than interns.
President Taft never had his license to practice law before the Supreme Court suspended for five years! That is VERY serious business in law circles. And the offense was lying under oath to a US District Court judge. Nope, no way.
There’s also that pesky 60 vote requirement. Unless the GOP gets totally wasted in ‘08 elections, even if HRC were to end up as POTUS (God forbid !)they wouldn’t have the votes, and I imagine a good number of Dems would oppose such an appointment.