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Hail, No: Changing The Chief Justice, Edward T. Swaine

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

How do we get a new chief justice? Traditionally, the President decides between nominating a newcomer and promoting a sitting associate justice, and places either nominee before the Senate for its advice and consent. But this is not constitutionally required, or at least not evidently so, and there is no better time to confront this fact. This short essay explains that Congress could develop a different mechanism for promoting justices without subjecting them to a second appointment - providing, for example, that the position would rotate among sitting justices based on seniority, or that the justices would elect a chief …