So.... Does Chief Justice John Roberts get to administer the Oath of Office to President Obama?

[snowbear]

And..

Does President Obama get to select whoever he'd like to preach the inaugural prayer and sermon?

Somebody here must know how all this works..

[Muttocracy]

1. yes for Chief Justice - here's a good site on inaug. info

from the change.gov site - clicked the link for the GSA transition directory... it leads to http://directory.presidentialtransition.gov/PTT-PresTransInaug-Inauguration.cfm which has several links about the Inauguration.

[snowbear]

3. Wow.. when you look at all the lists of people on that website....

....all of who are currently with the Bush Administration..


... it hits you how many jobs the Obama Administration will be filling!

[Clio the Leo]

11. There has got to be SOME way where we can let Maya Angelou do it...

.... somebody double check the Constitution.

Surely there's a clause we're missing. :)

[jrockford]

23. Why? nt

[theboss]

41. She can read a boring poem. I think that's a high enough honor.

When did Maya Angelou become Betsy Ross? I feel like I am missing something here.

[RichGirl]

42. Maya Angelou is a smart lady.

She was the poet for Clinton. She understands that it's a new day and has said when asked about whether she would read a poem for Obama...that he needs his own poet.

Obama should receive the oath from Justice Roberts. There's no reason to do it different than it's always been done.

I like the idea of the first black president being sworn in by the first gay justice!!

[Muttocracy]

2. Oh, and speaking of oath-taking, Senators get to take their photo with Biden instead of Cheney :)

[Freddie Stubbs]

25. No, he will not be Vice President yet

Senators take office January 3, but Biden's doesn't become VP until January 20.

[Muttocracy]

49. oh, you're right, one more year of bad photos ;)

[RepublicanElephant]

4. and in january...

could obama replace him as chief justice and give that job to ginsberg?

[Blackhatjack]

7. Sorry, that is not how it works. Roberts is CJ until he steps down or dies...

That is why his confirmation without his answering crucial questions was so awful.

The Chief Justice has a lot power over the Court's schedule and agenda, and over who writes which opinions for the Court.

[TahitiNut]

10. He could also be impeached and removed.

:shrug: Yes, Justices of the Supreme Court can be impeached and removed.

[Blackhatjack]

16. More likely Roberts would be hit simultaneously by lightning AND a meteorite! LOL

The point being... being confirmed as Chief Justice means it is a position for life subject to only extreme circumstances already mentioned(ie. death, resignation, impeachment).

[theboss]

37. Yea....that seems likely

Good plan.

[melody]

53. Don't worry, TN, I agree with you

Those of us who are in a position to lose rights would naturally have some anger.

[melody]

15. He can be removed.

I'm hoping for old Buggy Eyes to be impeached.

[davepc]

32. On what grounds? He writes legal opinions you disagree with?

[melody]

35. No, on the grounds that he's an enemy of the Constitution

Great lawyers can always come up with legal grounds. As long as the bastard is out of there is all I care.

[davepc]

36. As i figured, he writes legal opinions you don't agree with, so off with his head

I think they tried something like you suggest during the French Revolution. Didn't work out so well.

Nor did it work with Clinton.

[melody]

50. I'm not an attorney, I have no position of power, I'm speaking out of anger

If you had a uterus, were gay, or had some dog in this hunt, you might feel differently.

[theboss]

58. I have a dog in the hunt. I'm not thrilled that Roberts or Alito are on the court

But elections have consequences.

I'm sure there are right wingers that would like to see Ginsberg gone.

Any idea that you can suddenly clear the bench after an election is preposterous, however.

[theboss]

39. Glad to see that DU is just as completely insane after the election

I was worried that practical minds actually interested in governing would take over or something.

[Name removed]

43. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

51. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[melody]

52. One personal attack alert already this morning.

Welcome to my ignore list.

[theboss]

38. This should be good

On what grounds?

[GregD]

5. Better yet, can Obama select a new Chief Justice?

Man, that would piss the righties off something fierce.

[Flaxbee]

8. nope. As Blackhatjack said, Roberts is there until he chooses

to leave or dies -- otherwise Clinton would have booted Rehnquist in favor of Stevens or Souter or anyone other than a Republican.

[Perky]

29. Just Remember Chief Justice is really noting more than first among equals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Justice_of_the_United_States

The Chief Justice is considered to be the justice with most seniority, independent of the number of years of service in the Court. As a result, the Chief Justice chairs the conferences where cases are discussed and voted on by the justices. The Chief Justice normally speaks first, and so has great influence in framing the discussion.

The Chief Justice sets the agenda for the weekly meetings where the justices review the petitions for certiorari, to decide whether to hear or deny each case. Less than one percent of cases petitioned to the Supreme Court are agreed to be heard. While Associate Justices may append items to the weekly agenda, in practice this initial agenda-setting power of the Chief Justice has significant influence over the direction of the court.

Despite the seniority and added prestige, the Chief Justice's vote carries no more legal weight than those of the other eight justices. However, in any vote, the most senior justice in the majority decides who will write the Opinion of the Court. Since the Chief Justice is always considered the most senior member, if he or she is in the majority then the Chief Justice decides who will write the Opinion of the Court. This power to determine the author of the Court's opinion (including the choice to select him or herself) allows a Chief Justice who is in the majority to influence the historical record. Two justices in the same majority, given the opportunity, might write very different majority opinions (as evidenced by many concurring opinions); being assigned the opinion may also cement the vote of an Associate who is viewed as only marginally in the majority (a tactic that was reportedly used to some effect by Earl Warren). A Chief Justice who knows his Associates can therefore do much—by the simple act of selecting the justice who writes the Opinion of the Court—to affect the "flavor" of the opinion, which in turn can impact the interpretation of that opinion in cases before lower courts in the years to come. It is said that some chief justices, notably Earl Warren and Warren Burger, sometimes switched votes to a majority they disagreed with in order to be able to use this prerogative of the Chief Justice to dictate who would write the opinion.

[TexasObserver]

6. I wonder if they'll give Roberts a box to stand on.

He's what, 4'8"?

Not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm just saying he's tiny, and Obama is tall.

[d_b]

9. he looks like a mega church freeper

[murielm99]

12. Not to me.

I think he is a closeted gay man, like the foot tapper in the restroom.

He married late and has two adopted children. His history is much like the foot tappers history.

I don't care if he is gay. I care about the hypocrisy.

Someone here posted a picture of him with several male friends. They were displaying the meal they had cooked. I can't help it, it was a funny picture. It made me laugh. They looked like a group of gay men who had gotten together for dinner.

[d_b]

14. lol that's awesome

the dinner scene :rofl:

[murielm99]

17. Maybe someone will post that picture again. n/t

[grammysandie]

18. Here ya go

[d_b]

19. nice

he's so bangin' the mustache guy.

[RepublicanElephant]

24. ****gaydar alert! gaydar alert!****

[Sheets of Easter]

47. He's a right-wing justice, so he must be secretly gay,

especially if he gets his pic taken with a guy sporting a porno 'stache. :eyes:

This shit never ends here, does it?

[onenote]

55. well here at DU people can tell who is gay just by looking at them.

Or is that what they do in freeperville?

Sometimes its hard to distinguish...

[awoke_in_2003]

27. Well,

at least they all look happy.

[mitchum]

34. Fabulous!

[Sheets of Easter]

46. wrong place

[camera obscura]

20. As far as hypocrisy goes, I think he did some pro bono work for gay rights

so he's not as egregious a hypocrite to me as, say, Lindsey Graham.
But anyone who's gay and supports the Republican agenda needs to do some serious soul searching IMO.

[goclark]

22. The photo that I saw was taken at a birthday party and sent

to me by a friend of mine that is Gay.

Can't remember the details now but she either knew one of the men in the photo or something like that ----

[tpi10d]

13. supreme court justices

The two W appointees: Roberts is 53 years old and Alito is 58-both very likely would survive a two term Obama presidency. Both are hard right wing on the court.

Thomas is hard right (GHW Bush) and he's 60 years old. Scalia hard right (Reagan) age 72. Kennedy moves from right to center once in a while and he's 72.

Unfortunately the justices most likely to be replaced during Obama terms would be the relatively liberal Stevens at 88 years old or Ginsburg (Clinton appointee) at 75.

[TXDemGal]

21. Maybe the Chief can borrow Rhenquist's old "racing stripe" robe

Remember that? I think he was wearing it when Dubya was sworn in back in '05.

[MaineDem]

33. I believe that's what the Chief Justice wears

To differentiate him from the other justices.

On edit...I may be wrong. It doesn't look like Roberts wears the doctoral stripes on his robe.

[Catshrink]

45. Rehnquist designed that for himself after seeing a Gilbert & Sullivan

show.

"It is not surprising, given the focus of Gilbert on politics, that politicians and political observers have often found inspiration in these works. U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist added gold stripes to his judicial robes after seeing them used by the Lord Chancellor in a production of Iolanthe.<95> Alternatively, Lord Chancellor Charles Falconer is recorded as objecting so strongly to Iolanthe's comic portrayal of Lord Chancellors that he supported moves to disband the office.<80> British politicians, beyond quoting some of the more famous lines, have delivered speeches in the form of Gilbert and Sullivan pastiches. These include Conservative Peter Lilley's speech mimicking the form of "I've got a little list" from The Mikado, listing those he was against, including "sponging socialists" and "young ladies who get pregnant just to jump the housing queue".<80> Political humour based on Gilbert and Sullivan's style and characters continues to be written.<96> On the U.S. news show, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, a clip was shown from the Family Guy episode "Stewie Kills Lois" in which Stewie, after taking over the world, sings the "little list" song about those he hates, including Bill O'Reilly's dermatologist."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_and_Sullivan

[CreekDog]

48. I'm confused

who am i supposed to think is gay, Roberts or Rehnquist? :shrug:

[olegramps]

26. One change I would like to see is doing away with life-time appointments.

Another is that children born to illegal immigrates have automatic citizenship. I believe the latter one would be a slam-dunk.

[GalleryGod]

28. Really?

Well as a history & poli sci prof heres IMHO some advice:

Read more history. There's a REASON, deep seated in the fabric of this country., for the Court's LIFE time appointments. And btw...you couldn't do it.

Go in peace.

[Perky]

30. Gramps?

You do understand that ANYONE born in the United States is a Citixen by the Constitution,

Given that most of the Framers were the children of people who entered the land illegaly, I would think you would be a little forgiving.

I would be okay with a limited term, bit I do not believe they should be removed from office and I do not think they should serve more than one term because that would subject them to more than one confirmation process.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

31. Read the Constitution.

That stuff is all in there.

[theboss]

40. Only two new amendments?

Surely we can pass five or six in the next two years.

[Atman]

44. Will he wear latex gloves and carry a bottle of Purell?

I can see him wiping down the Koran...er, bible...with sanitizer after that dark boy touches it.

.

[secondwind]

54. "YES" TO BOTH QUESTIONS.

[Hawkeye-X]

56. And hopefully 1 minute later, ask Roberts and Alito for his resignation effective immediately

since the Unelected One illegally selected these two numbnuts to the Supreme Court.

[theboss]

57. Oh, I gotta hear this one

What exactly is the legal strategy for proven that they were illegally nominated?

[Hawkeye-X]

59. Chimp will be impeached - and therefore all his pet projects

are null and void.