Chief Justice gets paid more $263,300 vs $251,800 for the eight associate judges in 2017 according to wiki article on salaries for federal justices.
Interestingly, the Constitution is silent on the title, simply mentioning that in the case of impeachment of the President, his trial in the Senate shall be presided over by the “Chief Justice.” The original founding act of the First Congress styled the position “The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.” That lengthy title was changed at the suggestion of Salmon Chase to “The Chief Justice of the United States.”
That’s very interesting. That’s the idea I had originally in the OP. Rehnquist got promoted to Chief Justice by an appointment.
It probably won’t happen again. It’s too hard getting one nomination past the Senate. Much less trying to get two.
In normal times, it wouldn’t be too tough to get Senate approval for promoting an existing justice to Chief. They’ve already been approved once, and chiefing them won’t change the balance of the court.
Not immediately but how about when someone gets moved into their old Associate slot?
Not same at all. “Queen of England” is a statement that the united Kingdom is just about England, and ignores the other three nations that make it up.
The position of “Queen of England” hasn’t existed for almost three centuries.
Oh, sure, adding someone new to the court is likely to be contentious, but that’s going to be true either way. Either you add someone new to replace the Chief, or you promote an associate to Chief and add someone new to replace the associate. Either way, it’s only one new judge being appointed.
It was contentious in 1968 when Chief Justice Earl Warren announced his intention to retire. President Johnson wanted Associate Justice Abe Fortas moved to Chief Justice and Homer Throneberry from the Court of Appeals to take Fortas’s place as associate judge. However many in the Senate were upset with many decisions of the Warren Court and Fortas’s close association with Johnson (Fortas had previously been the premier Washington DC lawyer). They filbustered against the nominations and it wouldn’t go through. As it turned out a year later Fortas was discovered to have ethical violations and resigned.
According to the book “The Brethren” on the Burger Court, President Nixon originally offered the Warren chief justice job to associate justice Potter Stewart. Stewart refused for two reasons. His wife had dininking problems earlier and he was afraid any negative publicity might cause her to resume drinking. He also said his study of Supreme Court history led him to believe making an associate the chief caused problems in the workplace and wasn’t worth it. So Nixon nominated Burger.
Quite so.
This may be of interest: Who’s America’s top judge? - The Straight Dope
The Chief Justice is also the primary administrator for the federal court system, as the CJ is the head of the Judicial Conference of the United States,* manages the Library of Congress’ law library, appoints FISA judges, and appoints the multidistrict litigation panel.
*This one is particularly significant because the JCUS drafts the federal rules of procedure, which are then adopted by SCOTUS subject to congressional veto.
Interesting facts, all. But the role and influence/importance of assigning the writing of the majority opinion (to himself, if he voted in the assent?) seems to me the most significant in the normal functioning of the Court.
When I said that he wrote majority opinions himself, I was apparently mistaken. He can, but choosing whom to assign it to usually has the same effect.
And in the normal functioning of the court, his administrative position is probably more relevant. Most cases that the Supreme Court decides aren’t controversial, and even of those that are, the justices on the majority side usually mostly agree.
Of course it’s the same. The Queen of the United Kingdom is also the Queen of England. The fact that the latter isn’t part of her official title doesn’t mean it isn’t a perfectly apt (if incomplete) descriptor. England has a queen, and her name is Elizabeth. Or did England become a democracy when I wasn’t looking? The fact that she’s also the Queen of other stuff doesn’t change the Venn diagram.