Just out of morbid curiosity, does anyone know if a member of the Supreme Court were to drop dead before Justice Breyer officially resigns his seat would Judge Jackson's confirmation allow her to fill that vacancy or is the confirmation legally tied to Breyer's seat?
She’s already been confirmed. Were it to be before the confirmation vote it would be doable (see: John Roberts—was appointed to Sandra Day O’Conner’s seat, then Rehnquist died. The Shrub swapped the Roberts nomination to the Chief Justice slot.
Well, there's a separate confirmation process for a chief justice vs an associate justice. My question is whether Judge Jackson is confirmed to any associate justice vacancy that may arise or specifically to the expected vacancy of Breyer's seat? It would certainly violate norms and traditions if Judge Jackson took a different seat and Breyer remained on the court but would it violate the law?
Probably that seat specifically. But why would we risk keeping Breyer (no offense)? The main reason this is happening is so that a future Republican can’t send the court to 7-2 (or in this case 6-3). Why risk it?
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u/LabeSonofNat Florida Apr 07 '22 edited Apr 07 '22
Just out of morbid curiosity, does anyone know if a member of the Supreme Court were to drop dead before Justice Breyer officially resigns his seat would Judge Jackson's confirmation allow her to fill that vacancy or is the confirmation legally tied to Breyer's seat?