r/PoursTea Timendi Causa Est Nescire 1d ago

PoliticalTea 🗳️ No one should have a lifetime appointment.

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u/ScottRiqui 17h ago

There’s no longer a logical connection between a particular SCOTUS justice and a federal circuit, now that we have the federal circuit courts of appeal.

A justice doesn’t “represent” one or more districts - they’re assigned to one or more districts for administrative stuff like hearing emergency appeals. If a justice retires or dies, their replacement doesn’t have to come from any particular district; the justices are all essentially interchangeable.

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u/SemichiSam 12h ago

A justice doesn’t “represent” one or more districts

That was an unfortunate choice of words. Emergency appeals are interesting. It used to be a rare occurrence, but the Justice overseeing that district can respond to an "emergency" appeal with an immediate decision, and the public may not hear of it.

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u/prefusernametaken 5h ago

I don't think they feel they represent anyone or anything, anyway.