Friday, September 18, 2020

Vacancy at the U.S. Supreme Court

A liberal Supreme Court Judge, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, age 87, passed away today due to pancreatic cancer. She was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993.  U.S. Supreme Judges have no retirement age. They can serve as long as they want to.

Here is the situation in U.S. Supreme Court.  Since they can serve forever, every President is waiting to fill up their own candidate.  If the President is a Democrat, he will want to fill up with a liberal.  If the President is a Republican, he will want to fill up with a conservative. This is very important because it will have heavy influence on issues that are to be decided by the Supreme Court.

President Trump was very lucky.  In his first term, he was able to appoint two conservative judges, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh.  The current position is 5 conservative judges and 4 liberal judges (with Ginsberg).

Here is the situation as of today.  Within a few hours of Ginsberg’s death, President Trump is already considering about 5 people for replacing her.  Two of them are Indian Origin.  Amul Thapar and Neomi Rao.

Here is a tricky situation.  2016 was a year for Presidential election.   President Obama, a few months before the election,  had an opportunity to fill a vacancy.  He nominated Merrick Garland.  The Republicans controlled the senate.  Therefore, the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate  Mr.  Mitch McConnell is the one to decide  what business will be taken up by the Senate.   In 2016, he refused to take up this matter for discussion.  He said “voters should be able to express their views at the ballot box before the Senate votes in the final year of a president's term.”

Now the same situation in 2020.   2 months before the election there is a vacancy.   Democrats are telling Mr.  McConnell to go by the same rule he invoked in 2016. But Mr.  McConnell says he is not going to abide by what he said in 2016. Today he said he will make sure Trump’s nominee is confirmed while Trump is still the president.

If the Republicans can do that, It will be 6 to 3 in favor of Conservatives in the U.S. Supreme Court. This will affect the American people and everything in the United States for many many years.

PS: I have no idea why the last 2 paragraphs came in this fashion.

10 comments:

  1. Waayyy too early for speculation.
    RBG is an amazing woman who led an amazing life.
    I guarantee that RBG's open seat will go to a woman (and it won't be Neomi Rao).

    RIP RBG!

    Regards,
    DJT 45

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    1. Thanks for your comments Donald. It is a good idea to appoint a woman to replace the vacancy caused by a woman. But I hope it is not Ivanka Trump.

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  2. This is the reason why one should not say things before considering what they'd do if they eventually get into the same position. KARMA CATCHES UP. :P

    Destination Infinity

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    1. Thanks for your comments Rajesh. You said "karma catches up". It can be used both ways. Democrats wanted to rush thru their nomination before the 2016 presidential election and now they want to wait after the election.

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  3. The latest I heard was that Trump will nominate a woman. Still she will surely be a conservative.
    The reason not to follow the 2016 precedent is also interesting -- the rule applies only when the President is not from the majority party in Senate! This time it's a Republican president, so it's fine!
    This nomination combined with the outcome of November 3 will have a huge impact.

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    1. Thanks for your comments Pradeep. Your observation is correct. If the President and Senate majority are from the same party, they can go through with this. If the situation is reverse, the Democrats will do the same.

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    1. Thanks for your comments Renu. You are right.

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  5. Then how will legality reach the needy, if the presidents opt for their candidates to be placed in the legal chairs? Nice topic.

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    1. Thanks for your comments Sarala. Every President wants to put their own candidate if they get a chance.

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