If a Supreme Court Vacancy Occurs

Weve received a lot of calls over the last few days regarding the procedures to be followed if, in fact, a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States takes place at the end of the term.  As it stands right now, it appears that the Supreme Court term will end during the week of June 27^th.   It is conceivable if a vacancy takes place, it could be announced the last day of the term.  It is also probable that the White House would make an announcement as to the appointment of the replacement within 48 hours.  There is precedent for it to even happen simultaneously.

There are a lot of names being considered for a vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States; and, thus far, I will tell you that we are pleased with each of the potential nominees who have been discussed.  In the event that the Chief Justice retires, the President can either select a current Justice to serve as Chief Justice or appoint a new Justice outside of the Court to come in as Chief Justice.  In either case, a confirmation process is necessary.  The historical precedent is that with the 13 Chief Justices who have been selected, 8 of them have been from outside the Court. 

In light of the compromise that was reached with the Senate concerning the filibuster issue, it will be interesting to see how the developments take place once a nominee is put forward.  In other words, will a minority of the Senate consider a nominee who is conservative or pro-life to be an extraordinary circumstance, thus voiding the agreement and allowing for a filibuster?  If that does take place, will Senate Majority Leader Frist be able to put forward a rule change in order to prevent the filibuster.  Legally speaking, Majority Leader Frist will have the authority to bring forward a rule change during the nomination of a Justice to the Supreme Court.  The question becomes strictly one of politics.  For up-to-date information on this issue, please continue to view the ACLJ website at www.aclj.org.