How many more Sup Ct Justices will BHO get to appt?

[ouwasp]

What, maybe two more?

[olevetonahill]

What, maybe two more?

We can hope an Pray the answer is NONE.

[KantoSooner]

I'd go with one and that one would likely be Ginsberg, so the impact would be minimal.

[badger]

Supreme Court justices tend to only retire when the political climate is right. If they die in office there's no choice, but if they have a choice, they'll likely wait for Republican if that's their ideology, or a Democrat if that's their preference.

Perhaps this isn't fair, or perhaps this is just the way things are, fair or not

[achiro]

Supreme Court justices tend to only retire when the political climate is right. If they die in office there's no choice, but if they have a choice, they'll likely wait for Republican if that's their ideology, or a Democrat if that's their preference.

Perhaps this isn't fair, or perhaps this is just the way things are, fair or not
But the law is the law, ideology should have no bearing on a courts decision...

[jkjsooner]

But the law is the law, ideology should have no bearing on a courts decision...

Let me know when you wake up to reality.

To imply that court decisions (especially those that come before the supreme court) are always black and white is naive.

Ideology goes as far back as how the justices view the constitution. There's a myriad of ways. Here are some from the wikipedia article - textualism, strict contructionism, founders intent, originalism, prudentialism, doctrinalism, structuralism. There's also ideology on how much weight they put on precedent. (I suppose this last part is really only relevant to the Supreme Court since lower courts are sort of bound by SCOTUS precedent.) Then you have to consider how narrow or widespread of a ruling they're willing to make.

Show me two justices that have ever agreed on 100% of the cases...

[Curly Bill]

Hopefully none, but like was already said if there is any it will likely be one of the lib justices thus minimizing the impact...beyond replacing an older justice with a younger version that will likely be around for a long time.

[sappstuf]

He will appoint himself in the last month of his presidency... Bank it.

[achiro]

Let me know when you wake up to reality.

To imply that court decisions (especially those that come before the supreme court) are always black and white is naive.

Ideology goes as far back as how the justices view the constitution. There's a myriad of ways. Here are some from the wikipedia article - textualism, strict contructionism, founders intent, originalism, prudentialism, doctrinalism, structuralism. There's also ideology on how much weight they put on precedent. (I suppose this last part is really only relevant to the Supreme Court since lower courts are sort of bound by SCOTUS precedent.) Then you have to consider how narrow or widespread of a ruling they're willing to make.

Show me two justices that have ever agreed on 100% of the cases...
Somebody's sarcasm meter is broken ;)

[KantoSooner]

In jk's defense, there are some around here who believe that the constitution is simple, easy to interpret, anticipated all events 'til the end of time and subject to no changes in interpretation, ever.

[jkjsooner]

Supreme Court justices tend to only retire when the political climate is right. If they die in office there's no choice, but if they have a choice, they'll likely wait for Republican if that's their ideology, or a Democrat if that's their preference.

Perhaps this isn't fair, or perhaps this is just the way things are, fair or not

I think that's true but we've had several over the last couple of decades.

- O'Conner retiring under GW Bush. She was a conservative nominee so maybe it's not a great example but she was a swing voter. It's very likely she would rather retire under a Republican than a Democrat but I think she would have rather been replaced by another swing voter.

- Marshall retiring under GHW Bush. This was the big one. I think after 12 years he just got tired of waiting for a Democrat to take the office. I guess that's the key. Unless someone dies the best way to swing the vote is to have at least 3 consecutive terms for your party.

- Blackmun retiring under Clinton.


It seems like the conservatives have played this game a little better than the liberals as of late. Add to that the fact that GW Bush's nominees were both pretty young so they're probably not going anywhere soon.

[jkjsooner]

Somebody's sarcasm meter is broken ;)

Wow. I guess so. It's hard to distinguish sarcasm from crazy sometimes.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

We can hope an Pray the answer is NONE.
^^^^^ This!

[badger]

He will appoint himself in the last month of his presidency... Bank it.

Hypothetically, let's say that this happens. You know, just for fun :)

Is there any way that the Senate votes to confirm his nomination? I know they have a Dem majority right now, but this might be a death warrant to any swing state/red state Democrat senators that want to keep their seat.

[Midtowner]

But the law is the law, ideology should have no bearing on a courts decision...

Have you ever read a Scalia or Thomas dissent?