Bush to Nominate Roberts for Chief Justice

FoxNews ^ | Sept 5, 2005

[TomGuy]

Newsreaders on FoxNews just said a 'Senior administration spokesman' has said Bush plans to nominate Roberts for Chief Justice position.

[jdm]

"He clerked for Rehnquist. I would bet that President Bush and Justice Rehnquist have had some conversation about this move."

Exactly. Prior to Rehnquist's death, I'm sure Bush got an earful about Roberts, by talking with Rehnquist himself. Therefore, I trust the President made a wise move here.

[ChronicMA]

The Chief only assigns the opinions when he is part of the majority. If he is dissenting, the senior justice in the majority assigns the opinions (a role that Stevens has often carried out, since he often is on opposite sides with Rehnquist).

[mathluv]

Thanks. I asked ask.com but did not find much.

[AntiGuv]

FWIW, this almost certainly means that O'Connor will be on the Court when the session begins in October.

[visualops]

Because some of us believe traditional clothing looks alot better than the jr gang banger crap that's in most stores.

[Texas_Conservative2]

Many parents (me included) choose not to dress their children like little LA Gangsters, or Professional Athletes.

[cloud8]

> The CJ decides who writes the decisions

and presides over the trial in the Senate in the event of an impeachment.

[GregB]

Very nice shot....bullseye!!!!!!

[joonbug]

Another leak? Roberts original nomination wasn't predicted.

[joesbucks]

Could someone explain why this matters so much. It's not like the Chief Justice gets two votes. As far as I'm concerned, make Ginsburg Chief

From a pure perspective, you are right. But we are talking about ideology and legacy. Style before substance.

[opocno]

The CJ decides who writes the decisions on the side he/she is on. The CJ doesn't decide who writes the decisions on the other side of the argument.

IMO, the CJ's chief power is the power of persuasion and the ability to gauge the internal politics of the SupCt. That is why Scalia would be wasted as CJ. He would have to "tone it down."

[maica]

We are very traditional. Where do you think Jackie O learned how to dress her children!! LOL!

[Don'tMessWithTexas]

The CJ is the chief administrator of the federal judiciary. On the court, the Chief set guidelines for which cases the court takes on appeal. He also runs the conference that the justices have every week and then assigns cases to justices for writing opinions.

[Puppage]

I know it doesnt matter what I think, but we dont know enough about Roberts to place him in the top job for life. If he is appointed we have him for maybe 40 years. Thats too long for someone we dont know that much about

You've read my mind.

[section9]

Janice Rogers Brown for Associate Justice. I can almost guarantee this. Bush needs his base to rally around him after the beating he's been taking from the Left and from the RINO's.

JRB will ignite the base to jihad. We love JRB.

He knows this. A brutal fight for Associate Justice is what he needs.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[airborne]

Bush is going to take the heat for not promoting from within.

There was a chart I saw yestrday, that showed that 11 of 16 Chief Justices were picked from outside the existing Justices.

Surprised me, that's why I remembered it.

[Sensei Ern]

I heard a 2001 Rehnquist interview on CSPAN, yesterday. He explained that often the other Supreme Court Justices are not nominated because of the fear that it would cause animosity amongst the justices...feeling that they should have been there instead.

[OXENinFLA]

I knew I shouldn't have slept in this morning. I figured Pres. Bush would have waited until Tue. to announce Rehnquist's replacement, oh well.

But I guess he had to announce today since Roberts' hearing start tomorrow.

I kinda wanted to see Scalia be promoted.

I sure hope Roberts turn out to be a good Chief Justice.

[Bernard]

It makes sense in that democrats have already had an opportunity to dig up any dirt on John Roberts. Ands since Sandra Day O'Connor said she would serve until replaced, this allows time for the second appointment.

After all, a full compliment on the SC is better than not having a Chief Justice and an 8 person court.

[AlGone2001]

"Should be Scalia... Not sure what to think of this."

 

CHIEF JUSTICES OF THE US SUPREME COURT

NAME	STATE	APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT	DATE OF JUDICIAL OATH AS CHIEF	DATE SERVICE TERMINATED	SERVICE AS ASSOCIATE
John Jay	New York	George Washington	10-19-1789	6-29-1795	NA
John Rutledge	South Carolina	George Washington	8-12-1795	10-15-1795	2-15-1790 to 3-5-1791
Oliver Ellsworth	Connecticut	George Washington	3-8-1796	10-15-1800	NA
John Marshall	Virginia	John Adams	2-4-1801	7-6-1835	NA
Robert Brook Taney	Maryland	Andrew Jackson	3-28-1836	10-12-1864	NA
Salmon Portland Chase	Ohio	Abraham Lincoln	10-15-1864	5-7-1873	NA
Morrison Remick Waite	Ohio	Ulysses S. Grant	3-4-1874	3-23-1888	NA
Melville Weston Fuller	Illinois	Grover Cleveland	10-8-1888	7-4-1910	NA
Edward Douglass White	Louisiana	William Taft	12-19-1910	5-19-1921	3-12-1894 to 12-18-1910
William Howard Taft	Connecticut	Warren Harding	7-11-1921	2-3-1930	NA
Charles Evans Hughes	New York	Herbert Hoover	2-24-1930	6-30-1941	10-10-1910 to 6-10-1916
Harlan Fiske Stone	New York	Franklin D. Roosevelt	7-3-1941	4-22-1946	3-2-1925 to 7-2-1941
Fred Moore Vinson	Kentucky	Harry Truman	9-24-1946	9-8-1953	NA
Earl Warren	California	Dwight D. Eisenhower	10-5-1953	6-23-1969	NA
Earl Warren Burger	Virginia	Richard Nixon	6-23-1969	9-26-1986	NA
William Rehnquist	Virginia	Ronald Reagan	9-26-1986	9-3-2005	1-7-1972 to 9-26-1986
?	?	George W. Bush

---

INTERESTING POINTS

1. To date, there have been 16 Chief Justices of the US Supreme Court.
2. Of the 16 Chief Justices, 11 were nominated directly to the position from outside the court.
3. Of the 16 Chief Justices, 5 had previously been associate justices on the bench.
4. John Rutledge had been an associate and left the court with just over 1 year of service, only to return as the 2nd Chief Justice.
5. Charles Evans Hughes had served almost six years on the bench as an associate (1910-16), only to leave the bench and return about 14 years later as Chief Justice.
6. Chief Justices Edward Douglass White, Harlan Fiske Stone, & William Rehnquist are the only 3 chiefs to ever be elevated directly from acting Associate Justice to the position of Chief Justice.
7. Only 3 of the last 8 Chief Justices were appointed while actively serving as an Associate Justice.
8. President George Washington is the only president to appoint more than one Chief Justice, and he appointed 3.
9. It was not until Salmon P. Chase took the oath as Chief Justice that a chief was placed in his role within three days of the vacancy.  He was the 6th Chief Justice.
10. Approximately 55 years after Chase became Chief Justice, Charles Evans Hughes was installed as Chief Justice within 30 days of the vacancy.  He was the 11th Chief Justice.  No justice between them took office in less than 30 days of a vacancy.
11. The last two Chief Justices each took the oath as Chief Justice on the day a vacancy occurred in the Chief Justices slot.
12. The last three openings as Chief Justice were filled in less than 30 days.
13. Only John Marshall served more than 30 years as Chief Justice.  He serve a little over 34 years.  His period of serve spanned a period of six US Presidents.
14. Robert Brook Taney and Melville Weston Fuller are the only other men to serve over 20 years as Chief Justice.  Taney served more than 28 years and Fuller served over 21 years. 
15. Chief Justice Taney's period of service spanned a period of 10 US Presidents.
16. John Rutledge served two times on the bench:  once as an associate and once as the Chief Justice.  His total time on the court was about 15 months.
17. Chief Justice Taft is the only Chief Justice to have served previously as President of the United States.  He served one term as president (1909-13) and took his place on the bench as Chief Justice just 8 years after his presidency ended.  He replaced Chief Justice Edward Douglass White, who he nominated to the same position.
18. The last Chief Justice to die (before Rehnquist) was Fred Vinson, who died in 1953.