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You cannot promote Associate Justices to Chief Justice. The framers explicitly prevented this since they didn't want associate justices to lobby for the job. I
by atonse 7y ago
You cannot promote Associate Justices to Chief Justice. The framers explicitly prevented this since they didn't want associate justices to lobby for the job.
I don't remember where I read this, but it sounded plausible, given we've never seen this happen before.
- haneefmubarak 7y ago> Like the Associate Justices, the Chief Justice is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. There is no requirement that the Chief Justice serve as an Associate Justice, but 5 of the 17 Chief Justices have served on the Court as Associate Justices prior to becoming Chief Justice. From (https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/faq_general.aspx https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/faq_general.aspx). It would be pretty odd and a weird special casing compared to the norm if the president and congress were unable to nominate a given judge to a higher position within the overall US federal court system, solely because they were on SCOTUS.
- atonse 7y agoI clarified below. I actually thought of this clarification (that technically a judge could RESIGN and then be nominated, but that's different from promoting them)
- rootusrootus 7y agoAn Associate Justice can be nominated to be Chief Justice, but they need to be confirmed again just like a fresh appointment. Rehnquist is a recent example.