The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the land. As our highest court, it provides the leadership of the judicial branch of the federal government. The court consists of the Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices all of whom are nominated by the President and confirmed with the “advice and consent” of the Senate. The Justices are appointed to serve for life; they can be removed only by resignation or impeachment. No justice, however, has ever been removed from office by impeachment. The decisions of the Supreme Court may not be appealed to any other body.
On July 1, 2005, Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman ever seated on the High Court, announced her intention to retire from the bench. O’Connor has often been considered as the “swing” vote on many controversial issues. Her announcement meant that the group of justices that had sat together longer than any other group of justices was about to change and possibly change dramatically.
President Bush nominated John G. Roberts to replace O’Connor as an Associate Justice for the Supreme Court. John Roberts was appointed to the Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in 2003. And although his tenure as an appellate judge was brief prior to his nomination as an Associate to the Supreme Court, his legal credentials were widely regarded as excellent.
On September 3, 2005, Chief Justice William Rehnquist died before Roberts was confirmed by the Senate to be an Associate Justice. The Bush Administration quickly withdrew Robert’s nomination as an Associate Justice and re-nominated him as Chief Justice. Roberts was overwhelmingly confirmed by the Senate 78 to 22 to become the 17th Chief Justice of the United States.
President Bush nominated Samuel Alito to fill the vacancy left by departing Justice O’Connor (This was after nominating Harriet Miers, who subsequently asked President Bush to withdraw her nomination after a vocal outcry from conservative groups and an apparent planned effort by some of these groups to mount an organized opposition campaign to Ms. Miers’ candidacy). In 1990, Alito was appointed by President George Herbert Walker Bush (i.e. the “First President Bush”) to serve as an Appellate Justice for the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Alito is generally regarded as a conservative justice. Detractors of Alito express reservations about his positions on such issues as limits on presidential authority, abortion and affirmative action.
Prior to the confirmations of Justices Roberts and Alito, the Supreme Court closely divided on many issues. Most legal scholars predict that the High Court will move noticeably to the right with the new Justices. Roberts and Alito replace Rehnquist (considered a conservative justice) and O’Connor (generally considered a moderate justice). Both Roberts and Alito promised to respect the doctrine known as stare decisis which means that prior court decisions must be recognized as precedents, according to case law; how they will decide issues that will come before them is uncertain. For example, in Justice Alito’s first decision sitting on the Court, he voted with the majority (6-3) to refuse Missouri’s request to vacate the stay of execution issued by United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit for a death-row inmate. Such a position is not what most legal experts would expect from a conservative justice. Perhaps it is that type of independence the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they decided to give Supreme Court Justices lifetime tenure.
— J. Ken Butera