This story, yes. But in the future by someone else? Quite possible.
I’m probably being whooshed, but in the case of Obama leaving office for any reason, Nancy Pelosi would not become the new VP. Biden would become President, and then nominate a new VP who would require Senate approval.
Ok, I was wrong. I thought he was head of the EEOC when he was appointed. He was a judge for a year. Stellar qualifications. Much better than Obama’s 12 years as a Constitutional Law Professor. After all, what possible use could expertise on Constitutional law have on the United States Supreme Court?
The notion that Obama would try to appoint himself is moonshine, of course, as is any notion that will not run for reelection in 2012, but he would not be a ridiculous candidate sometime way down the road after he leaves the Whitehouse in 2017.
Earl Warren had been governor of California before he became Chief Justice.
True, but assuming that list is in chronological order, then the last non-judge SCOTUS was appointed in 1971, so the modern standard seems to be pretty heavily tilted towards past judges.
Harriet Myers had never been a judge when she was almost appointed by Bush, before being sunk by people complaining about her lack of qualifications. Granted Obama probably has a much better arguement for being qualified then Myers did.
Simplicio beat me to it.
Not really. SC Justices don’t even have to be lawyers.
My cursory glace recognizes more than a half dozen justices who served after 1950. Now, there’s been about 30 justices who served during that time, but 6 out of 30 having no experience on the bench isn’t a number to sneeze at.
See my post above, I think the last appointed (and confirmed) non-judge was Lewis Powell in 1971. So that’s almost 40 years without a non-judge on the court.
No, but I guess I misunderstood how the line of succession would apply to that situation.
It is, insofar as Diogenes the Cynic pointed out that I was mistaken. It has no bearing on the conversation and certainly nothing to do with the topic of the OP.
That seems to be the last one appointed, but he was not the last non-judge on the court. Thurgood Marshall served until 1991, of course.
The problem is that we aren’t dealing with large sets of data. There’s only been five appointments since Marshall left, and about 20 since 1970. Had this conversation happened in the 1960s, the inference would be that you better NOT be a judge, since four of the five justices appointed during that decade were not judges.
Heck, there was considerable speculation that Obama would appoint a non-judge. Contemporaneous story. And apparently there are at least a few serious law-talkin’ types who see the reliance on judges as having negatives.
I don’t believe there has been any consensus reached in our government or society that non-judges shouldn’t be allowed on the Supreme Court. The lack of quality of one nominee (Myers) doesn’t establish a pattern that other non-judges couldn’t overcome.
The whole line of succession that goes Speaker, President Pro Tempore, Sec of State, Treasury, etc. only applies if everyone above you is removed simultaneously, or at least before a replacement for that job is put in place. It doesn’t mean everyone on that list moves up one space.
And I was wrong - a newly appointed VP has to approved by both houses of Congress, not just the Senate.
Still, misunderstood or not, those are 8 words that would make grown men cry and shit on their pants while sneezing with their eyes open.
Apointing himself would be so utterly arrogant (even if legal) that he shouldn’t even try in with his avatar in Second Life.
Being appointe post-presidency would be a slim consideration
Marshall wasn’t a non-judge. He had four years as a federal circuit judge before being Solicitor General, as mentioned in his wiki article:
Johnson appointed him to the Supreme Court two years later, in 1967.
Forgive my ignorance, but I thought there was a big deal about not appointing anyone to SCOTUS who belonged to any particular political party. Is that just something I’ve heard that is inaccurate?
Or maybe I should put it another way: Has anyone who has held significant political office (e.g. Congresspersons, Governors, (Vice) Presidents) ever been appointed to the Court? And if so, so soon after they left office?
No, several former high-ranking politicians have been appointed to the Court. Three I can think of off the top of my head:
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President Taft was appointed Chief Justice of the United States.
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Governor Earl Warren was appointed Chief Justice.
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Senator Hugo Black was appointed an Associate Justice.
And Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase, who had run for the Republican nomination in 1860, was appointed Chief Justice.
Two names: Felix Frankfurter. William Howard Taft.
[Ghost of William Howard Taft]
MMM, Frankfurter…
[/GoWHT]