I floated a “poll” question the other day about the requirements to become a member of the US Supreme Court. My father would rage at FDR if provoked, and FDR’s attempt to stuff the court that kept blocking his progressive “new deal” programs. FDR tried to impose a mandatory retirement age and then tried to expand the size of the Court by adding new justices. He didn’t get what he wanted, but by being president for 13 years, he outlived enough to get his majority.<\/p>\n
The poll results suggest few visitors consulted their pocket constitutions before guessing the answers.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/streamingradioguide.com\/show-poll.php?pollnum=2375<\/a><\/p>\n The first thing your pocket Constitution doesn’t say is that the Supreme Court has nine members. The Constitution empowers Congress to Establish the rules for the “inferior” (Less than a supreme) Federal system of courts. This vagueness prevented the Convention from getting into a fight, but leaves it as a legislative act to set the rules for the Courts. The United States Supreme Court has had different numbers of judges and is entirely a power of a Congress to change. In 1789, the first law provided for one Chief Justice and only 5 judges. <\/p>\n http:\/\/www.fjc.gov\/history\/home.nsf\/page\/landmark_02_txt.html<\/p>\n The only clear Constitutional requirement is that members of the Supreme Court are appointed by the President with the Advice and Consent of the Senate – that’s it. The rest is legislation and tradition.<\/p>\n While the Consent provision should eliminate abuse because Harry Reid is a responsible person, going back to my poll answers<\/p>\n – there is no 60 Senator requirement n the Constitution. There isn’t even a 50 Senator rule. “Consent” means whatever the Senate says it means. I floated a “poll” question the other day about the requirements to become a member of the US Supreme Court. My father would rage at FDR if provoked, and FDR’s attempt to stuff the court that kept blocking his progressive … Continue reading
\nhttp:\/\/www.fjc.gov\/history\/home.nsf\/page\/landmark_01_txt.html<\/p>\n
\n– most people know that being a lawyer is not a requirement
\n– there is no requirement that you were born in the US – in fact, there is not even a requirement that you are a US Citizen.
\n– there is no age requirement. You probably qualify if you’re 18
\n– there is no requirement that you have a clean criminal record
\n– you could be the wife of the President
\n– the Oath of office created by legislation ends with “so help me God” – is that requiring a belief in any specific God? Article VI paragraph 3 is very direct that no government position can have a religious test<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"