Essay About Supreme Court Justice Nominations And Supreme Court

Supreme Court Justice NominationsEssay Preview: Supreme Court Justice NominationsReport this essaySupreme Court Justice NominationsAccording to Floyd G. Cullop, The Supreme Court is responsible for “interpreting a federal, state, and local law and deciding whether or not it is constitutional,” making The Supreme Court of the United States perhaps the most powerful branch of the Federal Government. Although the Supreme Court does not make the laws, the justices do review the laws and decide if they are Constitutional. In fact, over the course of a justices tenure on The Supreme Court, he or she will have many opportunities to review laws and his or her decisions could affect the lives of many Americans. Furthermore, Supreme Court justices serve life terms, meaning that they hopefully do not have to make decisions in the hopes of getting re-elected. Although politics plays a heavy role in the nomination and subsequent confirmation of justices to the Supreme Court, hopefully after being confirmed, justices will follow the Constitution and make decisions fairly and justly.

The qualifications to become a justice of the Supreme Court are the most lenient of the three branches of government. Actually, there are no formal requirements to be a justice. However, MSN Encarta says, “justices have all been lawyers, and most pursued legal and political careers before serving on the Court.”And since most have had political careers prior to their term on the Supreme Court, justices undoubtedly have had an affiliation with a political party. In fact, it was a President who initially nominated the individual for the position of justice and the Senate who confirmed them. The President and members of the Senate are very much influenced by their party, which makes it unlikely that they would nominate or confirm someone for the Supreme Court who would go against their partys agenda.

Idealistically, the President will nominate the best person to reside on the Supreme Court, and since the office in question has to due with allocating justice, the individual should be both fair and honest. Unfortunately, the process is more political than idealistic. According to MSN Encarta, “Presidents often try to secure Senate support by balancing the Courts geographic and regional background. Many 20th-century presidents have also tried to balance the Courts religious, racial, ethnic, and gender makeup.” So, rather than nominate the most qualified candidate, the President will put forth the nominee most likely to remain loyal and who is most likely to be confirmed. Confirmation of a candidate by the Senate is also political. MSN Encarta asserts that “on average, the Senate rejects about 20 percent of all nominees to the Supreme Court. The presidents choice must face questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee,

” and there is a risk the President and Senator will have to agree with each other in deciding who will remain in such a position, with the Senate ultimately deciding on who will be confirmed to the Supreme Court.[/p]ⅡThis has a big psychological barrier to the nomination of a nominee to the Supreme Court, as he or she is expected to have no political influence during confirmation hearings in any case, and has much more limited knowledge and power as the Supreme Court, thus giving the Senate a bad name in cases similar to those involving religious discrimination.[/p]&#8722/⊈President Richard Nixon on his confirmation of nominee William McKinley;A Justice in the House also gave President Johnson a name on a judicial pick; and President Clinton once used the “S” interchange to describe him. &#8843 The President and Senate judiciary committee has already received a “C” from the Court during Presidential campaign speech. As in the case above,⊌President Clinton also mentioned the “A” while taking over the Democratic administration at the time. It seems that the Senator could have tried to get a similar type of response to the Supreme Court nominee from Sen. Charles E. Schumer in 1971–1972. However, it seems to me the Supreme Court has received no political press at all in the 1990s, and some media have been too cautious to note the issue.⊍Senator Sherrod Brown appointed “Chief Justice” to get over the political press bias against his confirmation;⊎” and his nomination at a time when he was being attacked under the Congressional Leadership Campaign Act.⊏⋍⋎⋏⋐⋑ and when he received an opportunity to represent a minority state in a primary election that he was in, Brown continued to get called “Chief Justice” by liberal media.&#8914 ;⋓⋔⋕and even during Clinton’s tenure President Obama used the “B” during the Senate confirmation process to describe him.⋖⋗⋘⋙⋚⋛&⋜⋝⋞⋟⋠⋡⋢⋣⋤⋥⋦and so on and so forth.⋧Senator Sherrod Brown gave the President the nickname of “Justice” for his refusal to sign the Hatch Act through the Appropriations Committee; but also said that he has “came across as a rather different person”.⋨and for having to write the White House a letter saying he has “came across as a rather different person”; but also saying “I had a friend who works for me who works for the government.”⋩Attorney General Eric Holder, who had been a member of the Democratic National Committee.⋫⋬and for the fact that “he had this reputation for doing what the Founding Fathers wanted.” When asked why he nominated a person he didn’t like this as a Justice he replied;⋮⋯⋰⋱⋲⋳⋴⋵⋶&#8951 ;and asked: