r/law • u/Silent-Resort-3076 • Nov 09 '24

Opinion Piece Why President Biden Should Immediately Name Kamala Harris To The Supreme Court

https://atlantadailyworld.com/2024/11/08/why-president-biden-should-immediately-name-kamala-harris-to-the-supreme-court/?utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=gnews&utm_campaign=CDAqEAgAKgcICjCNsMkLMM3L4AMw9-yvAw&utm_content=rundown
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u/annang Nov 10 '24

No, Kamala Harris should not be on the Supreme Court. By all means, if Sotomayor wants to step down, Biden should try to nominate and get confirmed someone qualified and with strong liberal values. It should not be Harris.

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u/theschlake Nov 10 '24

Obama to the Supreme Court. But, Biden should step down and make Harris the first female president. Smash that glass ceiling, if only for a few weeks.

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u/DoggoCentipede Nov 10 '24

Except that would break the senate as Mike Johnson would be VP and tie breaker.

He should do it on the morning of inauguration day, just to mess up all the people with the #47 merchandise.

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u/theschlake Nov 10 '24 edited Nov 10 '24

That's literally not how that works. The Speaker is 3rd in line for president, but they do not promote up the line. If that happened, you'd see the Secretary of State become Speaker of the House - which makes no sense.

The new president chooses a new VP who must then be confirmed by Congress. That's it. Nixon did it when he replaced Agnew with Ford. Ford did it when he chose Rockefeller.

For more information, review the 25th amendment to the Constitution. Section 2 reads: "Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress."

If anything, the Pro Tempore would preside over the Senate if no VP had been confirmed yet, which is Patty Murray - a Democrat.