Due to the death of Antonin Scalia- one of the nine supreme court judges- on February 15, controversy arose between the democratic and republican parties as to who would be the next supreme court judge; as the elections get closer, the disagreement is only getting worse. The supreme court plays an important role in the constitution such as deciding whether a law is fair. The judges are very important to our country because the supreme court is one of the three most important branches of government. Therefore, the next judge should be both an ally with the republican party as well as the democratic party.
In the constitution, there are three branches of government: The executive, Legislative, and the Judicial branches. The Executive Branch is made up of the president, vice president, and the cabinet members (or the secretary's). These people make the laws official in the United States. The Legislative Branch is made up of the Congress. Two houses make up the Congress: the house of representatives and the house of the senate.These people are important to the government because they pass
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Mary Clare Jalonick wrote the article If Clinton wins, more in GOP say no to full Supreme Court on November 1 2016 that added on to that though, “‘If Hillary Clinton becomes president, I am going to do everything I can do to make sure four years from now, we still got an opening on the Supreme Court,’ North Carolina Sen. Richard Burr said in an audio recording of his meeting with GOP volunteers on Saturday.” This is unfair, to have the bias against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton just because they aren't republicans. In fact, this is the first time in history that the republicans have disregarded the ideas of Hillary and Obama without even discussing
What is also interesting to note, is that the balance of power and who ultimately gets seated on the Supreme court is decided on Capitol Hill. Up until this point in the review, there has been very little discussed about how the legislature plays into the decision process of how the justices are seated (Robertson, 2004). However, as it is critical for a sitting president to have a Supreme Court sided towards the president’s political affiliation, it is equally as important to have a legislature that will also seek to have the nominee on the panel of justices. The author suggests, that this hope is quickly diminished when during the presidency, the legislature’s majority is the opposing party. The author does an excellent job in communicating this dynamic in reflecting on President Clinton’s attempt to have his justice nominees appointed during his time in office (Burke, 1993). The issues of getting nominees approved was also driven by a number of critical turnovers within the office of the presidency. This point underscores that lobbying is not limited to companies and organizations but to the power of the president to push justice nominations through the system (p.44). Finally, another aspect that was discussed that hindered the process was that President Clinton did not hold his ground and in each instance where he faced resistance, the president would remove the candidate presenting another with the hope that the new nominee would pass the nominee process
As humans we can’t just escape from our own personal opinions and go purely off of an old description of what our founding fathers wanted this country to be. Justices are supposed to be secular and go only by the constitutionality of a law or situation. Conservative justices regularly vote in favor of Conservative opinions, and Liberal justices vote in favor of Liberal opinions, whether or not either opinion actually coincides with the constitution. Connection
Since the creation of the judiciary there have been many modifications that have occurred. To start as it talks about in our textbook, justices began serving on the Supreme Court for a much longer term. Until recently, most justices were confirmed by the Senate, and from 1947 to 1985, almost all persons nominated to be a federal appeals court judge were approved. But of late, these nominations have had a less certain reception in the Senate. In 1986 President Ronald Reagan nominated Antonin Scalia for the Supreme Court, the Senate confirmed him by a vote of 98 to 0, but one year later, when he nominated Robert Bork the Senate rejected him. The different parties in the Senate try to block the vote based on the political party of the current President. In the textbook, it talks about how much harder the Senate is to confirm the nominees by a high yes
Our federal government is made up of three branches, the Executive Branch, Legislative Branch, and Judicial Branch. Each Branch plays an important role to the decision making and ensures the accordance of laws throughout the country. The Executive branch is the branch that makes our laws official and is headed by the President of the United States. The Executive Branch is also made up of the heads
Death sentences, reversing sentences and hearing lower court’s cases are parts of the job requirement as a justice of the Supreme Court. Currently the 5-judge court has a 3-2 Republican
While the Framers’ intent behind life appointments is to protect the Justices from political influences, it is assumed that when a President appoints a Supreme Court Justice that he will choose one with an agenda similar to his own. The Supreme Court should be an archetype of where the country is politically at a given time. However, with the irregularity of when Justices need to be replaced, the political composition of the court is affected. Jimmy Carter, for example, appointed zero Justices, while Eisenhower appointed five. This is extremely concerning because it has led to the political stacking of the court, as seen when there was a period of twenty six years when no Democratic Justice was appointed between Thurgood Marshall and Ruth Bade Ginsburg. Justices have even been known to time their retirement to coincide with the political party affiliation of the sitting President so as not to tilt the balance of the court. This could lead to the political stacking of the court, which again, goes against the Framers’ original intentions of having an unpartisan
The most political story of the year,as reporters call it, happened last thursday as the Neil Gorsuch appeared before the senators for a confirmation hearing. One of the reasons many Americans voted for Donald Trump was the fear of another Democrat appointing yet another liberal judge to the supreme court. In recent times the court has often ruled on politics, which has been disputed by many Americans, who have expressed their fear regarding the situation. Following this, Mr Trump nominated 49 year old Neil Gorsuch from Colorado, who has a very solid judicial record and an honourable reputation.
1. One of the Supreme Court Justices, Antonin Scalia, has recently passed away. His absence in the court has fueled a battle between Republicans and President Obama. They believe that the next President should be the one to appoint the replacement justice. However, Obama counters that it his responsibility as president to do so in due time. In order for his nominee to follow through however, a majority of the Senate must vote upon it, but with 54 Republicans, this ruling may be blocked.
The President has the authority from the US Constitution, Article 2 Section 2 Clause 2, to choose new US Supreme Court Justices when the position becomes vacant. Barak Obama now has this opportunity presented before him. With the unfortunate passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, the President must get a list of candidates from the White Houses’ Counsel Office and figure out who is the best candidate for the prestigious position. The Senate then has the obligation given to them in the Constitution, Article 2 Section 2 Clause 2, to either confirm or deny the President’s choice for the Supreme Court. This has become a very important topic in this year’s election. This turn of events has the ability to change the power structure of the Supreme Court from Republican run to a Democratic run Court. This could change many laws in the US.
NPR’s legal affairs correspondent, Nina Totenberg, described a “horrible political storm” brewing over the Supreme Court of the United States (“CNN,” 2016, p. 1). While reporting for CNN, Totenberg used these words to draw attention to the untimely death of Justice Antonin Scalia in an era of modern politics in which the court has become more polarized than ever. The Supreme Court, the highest court of the land, is not only being severely impacted by partisan ties, but is now also deciding cases according to these biased beliefs. The Democratic and Republican parties, after corrupting and encroaching upon the federal judiciary, have made court nominations and rulings into a game of party politics, inevitably destroying the impartiality of the
According to the constitution of the United States the federal government is divided up into three branches to ensure an equal and balanced government and to make sure that no one or branch of government has too much power. The three branches are the legislative branch, executive branch, and the judicial branch. Each branch serves different purposes in the United States federal government and each branch is made up of different federal government employees. For example, the legislative branch make the laws. The legislative branch has the power to impeach the U.S. President and declare war. The legislative branch is made up of U.S. Congress which include the Senate and House of Representatives. Then there’s the executive branch which carry
There is an open seat in the supreme court. Since the death of justice Antonin Scalia in February 2016, President Barack Obama has attempted to appoint judge Merrick Garland to fill this vacancy. However, the currently Republican U.S. Senate has refused to act on the nomination. This is not the first time the Senate has disagreed with the president's choice of nominee. The Senate confirms just around eighty percent of the president's nominations. There is a strong rationale behind this two-tiered appointment system. Seats in the Supreme Court are extremely important positions to hold; the Supreme Court has the role of interpreting the text of the Constitution and using that interpretation
The US Constitution divides the federal government into three branches - legislative, executive, and judicial. The legislative branch, consisting of the House of Representative and the Senate, make laws,
She explores Sandra Day O’Connor’s departure from the Court, her voting behavior and the impact that her exit would have on the Court. She notes, “O’Connor, through her position as the Court’s center, had been the critical fifth vote for the victories - few though they were - of the moderate-liberal wing of the Court in abortion, church-state, campaign finance, race, and death penalty issues” (p.60). This statement suggests that O’Connor was willing to move her vote along the political spectrum so long as the laws fit her interpretation of the Constitution Alternatively, Coyle (2013) also discusses Kennedy, whose political opinions appear to factor rather heavily into his judicial opinions. Of him she writes, “Justice Anthony Kennedy would assume the center position in most closely decided cases [...] he would swing to the left less often” (p. 60). The addition of Roberts and Alito to the Court only served to solidify the so-called conservative contingent of the Court that Kennedy’s opinions brought it. This cohort, as well as its liberal counterpart, suggests that political party is an important factor in opinion writing. However, the idea of a swing vote in general suggests that partisanship can be set aside for effective
The Constitution sets up the government in the United States of America. This is split into three branches: Congress, which is the Legislative, the President also known as Executive and the Supreme Courts also known as the judicial. Each branch has its own power and structure.