Endorsement: Retain Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, Supreme Court and appeals justices appointed by the president with bipartisan support,
Supporting the nominee of the next justice to fill a vacancy on the high court, a position made possible because of an earlier election rather than a vacancy of an elected justice, is a powerful weapon for future conservatives looking to resist the liberal agenda being advanced by the current Supreme Court.
On Election Day, November 8, a large majority of Americans voted to retain Chief Justice Patricia Guillermo and 14 other justices. Not a single American voted to replace the 14 justices currently on the court.
The result of November 8, in the eyes of the American public, was that the next justice to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court would be a member of the court. At that time, the next justice with a majority of votes, or the next Justice Kennedy, was a nominee of Republican President Ronald Reagan, who appointed 25 justices to the court over a 38-year period.
The next justice, appointed and confirmed by Republican President George Bush 43, was a member of the court.
During nearly every election cycle since the court was first created in 1789, which has been called, “The Greatest Supreme Court since James Madison wrote the Bill of Rights,” the next justice with a majority of votes has been a member of the court.
The fact that the next justice will be appointed by the Republican president is important. The President makes appointments to fill vacancies of Supreme Court and court of appeals judges. In an odd way, the Supreme Court justices appointed by the president are the highest court in the land, and the president has the power to fill all vacancies on the court.
The Constitution provides that the president may fill all vacancies for which the Senate has not previously acted and provides that the governor of the state in which the vacancy is located appoint a person to the vacancy. Thus, the next justice to be appointed to a vacancy on the court is always a member of the court.
In addition, the next