How do US Supreme Court justices get appointed Peter Paccone

There’s a job out there with a great
deal of power, pay, prestige,

and near-perfect job security.

And there’s only one way to be hired:

get appointed to the US Supreme Court.

If you want to become
a justice on the Supreme Court,

the highest federal court
in the United States,

three things have to happen.

You have to be nominated by
the president of the United States,

your nomination needs to be
approved by the Senate,

and finally, the president must
formally appoint you to the court.

Because the Constitution doesn’t specify
any qualifications,

in other words, that there’s no age,
education, profession,

or even native-born
citizenship requirement,

a president can nominate any individual
to serve.

So far, six justices
have been foreign-born,

at least one never graduated
from high school,

and another was only 32 years old
when he joined the bench.

Most presidents nominate individuals
who broadly share their ideological view,

so a president with a liberal ideology

will tend to appoint
liberals to the court.

Of course, a justice’s leanings
are not always so predictable.

For example, when President Eisenhower,
a Republican,

nominated Earl Warren for Chief Justice,

Eisenhower expected him
to make conservative decisions.

Instead, Warren’s judgements have gone
down as some of the most liberal

in the Court’s history.

Eisenhower later remarked on that
appointment

as “the biggest damned-fool mistake”
he ever made.

Many other factors come up
for consideration, as well,

including experience, personal loyalties,
ethnicity, and gender.

The candidates are then thoroughly vetted

down to their tax records
and payments to domestic help.

Once the president interviews
the candidate

and makes a formal nomination
announcement,

the Senate leadership traditionally
turns the nomination over to hearings

by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Depending on the contentiousness
of the choice,

that can stretch over many days.

Since the Nixon administration,
these hearings have averaged 60 days.

The nominee is interviewed
about their law record, if applicable,

and where they stand on key issues
to discern how they might vote.

And especially in more recent history,

the committee tries to unearth
any dark secrets or past indiscretions.

The Judiciary Committee votes to send
the nomination to the full Senate

with a positive
or negative recommendation,

often reflective of political leanings,
or no recommendation at all.

Most rejections have happened
when the Senate majority

has been a different political
party than the president.

When the Senate does approve,
it’s by a simple majority vote,

with ties broken by the vice president.

With the Senate’s consent,

the president issues
a written appointment,

allowing the nominee to complete
the final steps

to take the constitutional
and judicial oaths.

In doing so,

they solemnly swear to administer
justice without respect to persons

and do equal right to the poor
and the rich

and faithfully and impartially discharge
and perform all the duties incumbent

upon a US Supreme Court justice.

This job is for life,

barring resignation, retirement,
or removal from the court by impeachment.

And of the 112 justices who have held
the position,

not one has yet been removed from
office as a result of an impeachment.

One of their roles is to protect
the fundamental rights of all Americans,

even as different parties take power.

With the tremendous impact
of this responsibility,

it’s no wonder that a US Supreme
Court justice is expected to be,

in the words of Irving R. Kaufman,

“a paragon of virtue,

an intellectual Titan,

and an administrative wizard.”

Of course, not every member of the Court
turns out to be an exemplar of justice.

Each leaves behind a legacy
of decisions and opinions

to be debated and dissected
by the ultimate judges,

time and history.

有一份工作拥有
巨大的权力、薪酬、声望

和近乎完美的工作保障。

而且只有一种方式可以被聘用:

被任命为美国最高法院法官。

如果你想成为
美国最高法院——

美国最高联邦法院——的法官

必须完成三件事。

你必须得到
美国总统的

提名,你的提名需要
得到参议院的批准

,最后,总统必须
正式任命你进入法院。

因为宪法没有规定
任何资格

,换句话说,没有年龄、
教育、职业,

甚至是土生土长的
公民身份要求

,总统可以提名任何
个人任职。

迄今为止,已有六位大法官
在国外出生,

其中至少一位从未
高中毕业

,另一位
加入替补席时年仅32岁。

大多数总统提名的个人
与他们的意识形态观点大致相同,

因此具有自由主义意识形态的总统

将倾向于任命
自由主义者进入法院。

当然,大法官的倾向
并不总是那么容易预测。

例如,
当共和党

总统艾森豪威尔提名厄尔沃伦担任首席大法官时,

艾森豪威尔希望他
做出保守的决定。

相反,沃伦的判决被
认为

是法院历史上最自由的判决。

艾森豪威尔后来称那次
任命

是他犯过的“最大的愚蠢错误”

许多其他
因素也需要考虑,

包括经验、个人忠诚度、
种族和性别。

然后,对候选人

的税务记录
和对家庭帮助的付款进行彻底审查。

一旦总统
与候选人面谈

并正式宣布提名

,参议院领导层通常
会将提名移交给

参议院司法委员会的听证会。

根据选择的争议
性,

这可能会持续很多天。

自尼克松政府执政以来,
这些听证会平均持续 60 天。

被提名人接受采访,
了解他们的法律记录(如果适用),

以及他们在关键问题
上的立场,以确定他们可能如何投票。

尤其是在最近的历史中

,委员会试图挖掘
任何黑暗的秘密或过去的轻率行为。

司法委员会投票决定
将提名提交给参议院全体成员

,提出正面
或负面的建议,

通常反映政治倾向,
或者根本没有建议。

大多数拒绝都发生
在参议院多数党与

总统是不同的政党时

当参议院确实批准时,
它会以简单多数票

通过,副总统会打破关系。

经参议院同意

,总统
发布书面任命,

允许被提名人完成

宪法
和司法宣誓的最后步骤。

在此过程中,

他们庄严宣誓,不分人情地主持
正义

,对穷人和富人享有平等的权利

,忠实、公正地履行
和履行

美国最高法院法官应尽的一切职责。

这份工作是终身的,

除非辞职、退休
或被弹劾免职。

在担任该职位的 112 名大法官中

没有一人
因弹劾而被免职。

他们的职责之一是保护
所有美国人的基本权利,

即使不同政党掌权。

由于
这一责任的巨大影响,

难怪美国最高法院的
法官被期望成为,

用欧文·考夫曼的话来说,是

“美德的典范

、知识的巨人

和行政巫师”。

当然,并非法院的每个成员
都是正义的典范。

每一个都留下
了决定和意见的遗产,

由最终的法官、

时间和历史进行辩论和剖析。