158-601: The Roberts Court is the time since 2005 during which the Supreme Court of the United States has been led by John Roberts as Chief Justice . Roberts succeeded William Rehnquist as Chief Justice after Rehnquist's death. It has been considered to be the most conservative court since the Vinson Court (1946–1953). This is due to the retirement of the relatively moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and
316-505: A Fordham Law Review article with inadequate citations. He was required to repeat the course and passed with high marks. At Biden's request the Delaware Supreme Court's Board of Professional Responsibility reviewed the incident and concluded that he had violated no rules. Biden has made several false or exaggerated claims about his early life: that he had earned three degrees in college, that he attended law school on
474-496: A University of Oklahoma law school professor, had accused Thomas of making unwelcome sexual comments when they had worked together. Biden had known of some of these charges, but initially shared them only with the committee because Hill was then unwilling to testify. The committee hearing was reopened and Hill testified, but Biden did not permit testimony from other witnesses, such as a woman who had made similar charges and experts on harassment. The full Senate confirmed Thomas by
632-487: A public defender and then at a law firm headed by a locally active Democrat, who named him to the Democratic Forum, a group trying to reform and revitalize the state party; Biden subsequently reregistered as a Democrat. He and another attorney also formed a law firm. Corporate law did not appeal to him, and criminal law did not pay well. He supplemented his income by managing properties. Biden ran for
790-685: A seminar on constitutional law at Widener University School of Law . He sometimes flew back from overseas to teach the class. Secretary of the Senate Francis R. Valeo swore Biden in at the Delaware Division of the Wilmington Medical Center in January 1973. Present were his sons Beau (whose leg was still in traction from the automobile accident) and Hunter and other family members. At age 30, he
948-521: A "mistake", but did not push for withdrawal. He supported the appropriations for the occupation, but argued that the war should be internationalized, that more soldiers were needed, and that the Bush administration should "level with the American people" about its cost and length. By late 2006, Biden's stance had shifted considerably. He opposed the troop surge of 2007 , saying General David Petraeus
1106-399: A 1976 passage by Hubert Humphrey . Biden responded that politicians often borrow from one another without giving credit, and that one of his rivals for the nomination, Jesse Jackson , had called him to point out that he (Jackson) had used the same material by Humphrey that Biden had used. A few days later, an incident was publicized in which, while in law school, Biden had taken text from
1264-814: A 52–48 vote, with Biden opposed. Liberal legal advocates and women's groups felt strongly that Biden had mishandled the hearings and not done enough to support Hill. In 2019, he told Hill he regretted his treatment of her, but Hill said afterward she remained unsatisfied. Biden was a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee . He became its ranking minority member in 1997 and chaired it from June 2001 to 2003 and 2007 to 2009. His positions were generally liberal internationalist . He collaborated effectively with Republicans and sometimes went against elements of his own party. During this time he met with at least 150 leaders from 60 countries and international organizations, becoming
1422-422: A Bachelor of Arts degree with a double major in history and political science in 1965. Biden had a stutter and has mitigated it since his early twenties. He has described his efforts to reduce it by reciting poetry before a mirror. Biden married Neilia Hunter , a student at Syracuse University , on August 27, 1966, after overcoming her parents' disinclination for her to wed a Catholic. Their wedding
1580-459: A Catholic or an Episcopalian . Historically, most justices have been Protestants, including 36 Episcopalians, 19 Presbyterians , 10 Unitarians , 5 Methodists , and 3 Baptists . The first Catholic justice was Roger Taney in 1836, and 1916 saw the appointment of the first Jewish justice, Louis Brandeis . In recent years the historical situation has reversed, as most recent justices have been either Catholic or Jewish. Three justices are from
1738-727: A Democratic floor manager for the successful passage of the Comprehensive Crime Control Act in 1984. His supporters praised him for modifying some of the law's worst provisions, and it was his most important legislative accomplishment to that time. In 1994, Biden helped pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act , which included a ban on assault weapons , and the Violence Against Women Act , which he has called his most significant legislation. The 1994 crime law
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#17327660135351896-575: A bigger court would reduce the power of the swing justice , ensure the court has "a greater diversity of views", and make confirmation of new justices less politically contentious. There are currently nine justices on the Supreme Court: Chief Justice John Roberts and eight associate justices. Among the current members of the court, Clarence Thomas is the longest-serving justice, with a tenure of 12,090 days ( 33 years, 36 days) as of November 28, 2024;
2054-558: A chief justice and five associate justices through the Judiciary Act of 1789 . The size of the court was first altered by the Midnight Judges Act of 1801 which would have reduced the size of the court to five members upon its next vacancy (as federal judges have life tenure ), but the Judiciary Act of 1802 promptly negated the 1801 act, restoring the court's size to six members before any such vacancy occurred. As
2212-571: A chief justice and five associate justices. The act also divided the country into judicial districts, which were in turn organized into circuits. Justices were required to "ride circuit" and hold circuit court twice a year in their assigned judicial district. Immediately after signing the act into law, President George Washington nominated the following people to serve on the court: John Jay for chief justice and John Rutledge , William Cushing , Robert H. Harrison , James Wilson , and John Blair Jr. as associate justices. All six were confirmed by
2370-694: A class of 85 students. He was admitted to the Delaware bar in 1969. Biden clerked at a Wilmington law firm headed by prominent local Republican William Prickett in 1968 and, he later said, "thought of myself as a Republican". He disliked incumbent Democratic Delaware governor Charles L. Terry 's conservative racial politics and supported a more liberal Republican, Russell W. Peterson , who defeated Terry in 1968. Local Republicans attempted to recruit Biden, but he registered as an Independent because of his distaste for Republican presidential candidate Richard Nixon . In 1969, Biden practiced law, first as
2528-580: A cold day in hell" before another independent counsel would be granted similar powers. He voted to acquit during the impeachment of President Clinton . During the 2000s, Biden sponsored bankruptcy legislation sought by credit card issuers. Clinton vetoed the bill in 2000, but it passed in 2005 as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act , with Biden being one of only 18 Democrats to vote for it, while leading Democrats and consumer rights organizations opposed it. As
2686-524: A commission, to which the Seal of the Department of Justice must be affixed, before the appointee can take office. The seniority of an associate justice is based on the commissioning date, not the confirmation or swearing-in date. After receiving their commission, the appointee must then take the two prescribed oaths before assuming their official duties. The importance of the oath taking is underscored by
2844-558: A floor vote in the Senate. A president may withdraw a nomination before an actual confirmation vote occurs, typically because it is clear that the Senate will reject the nominee; this occurred with President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers in 2005. The Senate may also fail to act on a nomination, which expires at the end of the session. President Dwight Eisenhower 's first nomination of John Marshall Harlan II in November 1954
3002-476: A full scholarship, that he had graduated in the top half of his class, and that he had marched in the civil rights movement . The limited amount of other news about the presidential race amplified these disclosures and on September 23, 1987, Biden withdrew his candidacy, saying it had been overrun by "the exaggerated shadow" of his past mistakes. After exploring the possibility of a run in several previous cycles, in January 2007, Biden declared his candidacy in
3160-519: A justice, but made appointments during their subsequent terms in office. No president who has served more than one full term has gone without at least one opportunity to make an appointment. One of the smallest supreme courts in the world, the U.S. Supreme Court consists of nine members: one chief justice and eight associate justices. The U.S. Constitution does not specify the size of the Supreme Court, nor does it specify any specific positions for
3318-578: A middle-class lifestyle. At Archmere Academy in Claymont, Biden played baseball and was a standout halfback and wide receiver on the high school football team. Though a poor student, he was class president in his junior and senior years. He graduated in 1961. At the University of Delaware in Newark , Biden briefly played freshman football, and, as an unexceptional student, received
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#17327660135353476-539: A narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." In 1803, the Court asserted itself the power of judicial review , the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution via the landmark case Marbury v Madison . It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either
3634-578: A national judicial authority consisting of tribunals chosen by the national legislature. It was proposed that the judiciary should have a role in checking the executive's power to veto or revise laws. Eventually, the framers compromised by sketching only a general outline of the judiciary in Article Three of the United States Constitution , vesting federal judicial power in "one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as
3792-517: A point of not resigning from the Senate before he was sworn in for his seventh term in January 2009. He cast his last Senate vote on January 15, supporting the release of the second $ 350 billion for the Troubled Asset Relief Program , and resigned from the Senate later that day, after which Ted Kaufman took office as his successor. In October 2010, Biden said Obama had asked him to remain as his running mate for
3950-450: A president may make temporary appointments to fill vacancies. Recess appointees hold office only until the end of the next Senate session (less than two years). The Senate must confirm the nominee for them to continue serving; of the two chief justices and eleven associate justices who have received recess appointments, only Chief Justice John Rutledge was not subsequently confirmed. No U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has made
4108-479: A proposed constitutional amendment banning busing entirely. Biden supported a 1976 measure forbidding the use of federal funds for transporting students beyond the school closest to them. He co-sponsored a 1977 amendment closing loopholes in that measure, which President Carter signed into law in 1978. Biden became ranking minority member of the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1981. He was
4266-402: A recess appointment to the court, and the practice has become rare and controversial even in lower federal courts. In 1960, after Eisenhower had made three such appointments, the Senate passed a "sense of the Senate" resolution that recess appointments to the court should only be made in "unusual circumstances"; such resolutions are not legally binding but are an expression of Congress's views in
4424-462: A senator, Biden strongly supported increased Amtrak funding and rail security. In February 1988, after several episodes of increasingly severe neck pain, Biden underwent surgery to correct a leaking intracranial berry aneurysm . While recuperating, he suffered a pulmonary embolism , a serious complication. After a second aneurysm was surgically repaired in May, his recuperation kept him away from
4582-421: A sister, Valerie , and two brothers, Francis and James . The Biden surname traces back to William Biden, an ancestor of his who emigrated from England to Maryland around 1820. Biden's father had been wealthy and the family purchased a home in the affluent Long Island suburb of Garden City in the fall of 1946, but he suffered business setbacks around the time Biden was seven years old, and for several years
4740-449: A time when most draftees were sent to the war. Based on a physical examination, he was given a conditional medical deferment in 1968; in 2008, a spokesperson for Biden said his having had " asthma as a teenager" was the reason for the deferment. Biden defeated Republican incumbent J. Caleb Boggs to become the junior U.S. senator from Delaware in 1972. He was the only Democrat willing to challenge Boggs and, with minimal campaign funds, he
4898-463: A violation of equal protection ( United States v. Virginia ), laws against sodomy as violations of substantive due process ( Lawrence v. Texas ) and the line-item veto ( Clinton v. New York ) but upheld school vouchers ( Zelman v. Simmons-Harris ) and reaffirmed Roe ' s restrictions on abortion laws ( Planned Parenthood v. Casey ). The court's decision in Bush v. Gore , which ended
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5056-421: A vote; Bush's third nominee to replace O'Connor was Samuel Alito , who was confirmed in January 2006. In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to replace Souter; she was confirmed. In 2010, Obama nominated Elena Kagan to replace Stevens; she, too, was confirmed. In February 2016, Justice Scalia died; in the following month, Obama nominated Merrick Garland , but Garland's nomination
5214-656: A well-known Democratic voice on foreign policy. Biden voted against authorization for the Gulf War in 1991, siding with 45 of the 55 Democratic senators. He said the U.S. was bearing almost all the burden in the anti-Iraq coalition . Biden became interested in the Yugoslav Wars after hearing about Serbian abuses during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991. Once the Bosnian War broke out, Biden
5372-517: A wing more hesitant to overrule precedent (Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Barrett), and a wing more willing to overrule precedent ( Clarence Thomas , Samuel Alito , and Neil Gorsuch ). Roberts wrote the majority opinion in West Virginia v. EPA which officially established the major questions doctrine and restricted the ability of the EPA to regulate power plant emissions using generation shifting under
5530-476: Is Biden gonna say something stupid?", he asked. Obama campaign staffers called Biden's blunders "Joe bombs" and kept Biden uninformed about strategy discussions, which in turn irked Biden. Relations between the two campaigns became strained for a month, until Biden apologized on a call to Obama and the two built a stronger partnership. As the 2007–2008 financial crisis reached a peak in September 2008, and
5688-595: Is accepted practice in the legislative and executive branches, organizations such as the Federalist Society do officially filter and endorse judges that have a sufficiently conservative view of the law. Jurists are often informally categorized in the media as being conservatives or liberal. Attempts to quantify the ideologies of jurists include the Segal–Cover score , Martin-Quinn score , and Judicial Common Space score. Devins and Baum argue that before 2010,
5846-539: Is an American politician who has been the 46th and current president of the United States since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party , he served as the 47th vice president from 2009 to 2017 under President Barack Obama and represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania , Biden moved with his family to Delaware in 1953. He received a Bachelor of Arts from
6004-543: Is identified as having a conservative judicial philosophy, his vote in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012) upholding the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has caused reflection in the press concerning the comparative standing of his conservative judicial philosophy compared to other sitting justices of conservative orientation; he
6162-450: Is one of the smallest supreme courts in the world. David Litt argues the court is too small to represent the perspectives of a country the United States' size. Lawyer and legal scholar Jonathan Turley has advocated for 19 justices, but with the court being gradually expanded by no more than two new members per subsequent president, bringing the U.S. Supreme Court to a similar size as its counterparts in other developed countries. He says that
6320-641: Is primarily remembered for its ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford , which helped precipitate the American Civil War . In the Reconstruction era , the Chase , Waite , and Fuller Courts (1864–1910) interpreted the new Civil War amendments to the Constitution and developed the doctrine of substantive due process ( Lochner v. New York ; Adair v. United States ). The size of the court
6478-449: Is seen as having a more moderate conservative orientation, particularly when his vote to uphold the ACA is compared to Rehnquist 's vote in Bush v. Gore . Some commentators have also noted that Roberts uses his vote in high-profile cases to achieve a facially-neutral result that sets up for larger conservative rulings in the future. The Five Four Podcast went so far as to deem this maneuver
Roberts Court - Misplaced Pages Continue
6636-1064: The 109th through the current 118th United States Congresses. The Roberts Court has issued major rulings on incorporation of the Bill of Rights , gun control , affirmative action , campaign finance regulation , election law , abortion , capital punishment , LGBT rights , unlawful search and seizure , and criminal sentencing . Major decisions of the Roberts Court include: The Roberts Court has been described as conservative and by many as "dominated by an ambitious conservative wing." Roberts, Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett generally have taken more conservative positions, while Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson have generally taken more liberal positions. Among former justices, Scalia and Kennedy had been more conservative, while Souter, Stevens, Ginsburg, and Breyer had been more liberal. These two blocs of voters have lined up together in several major cases, though Justice Kennedy occasionally sided with
6794-512: The 1787 Constitutional Convention established the parameters for the national judiciary . Creating a "third branch" of government was a novel idea ; in the English tradition, judicial matters had been treated as an aspect of royal (executive) authority. Early on, the delegates who were opposed to having a strong central government argued that national laws could be enforced by state courts, while others, including James Madison , advocated for
6952-421: The 2012 presidential election , but with Obama's popularity on the decline, White House Chief of Staff William M. Daley conducted some secret polling and focus group research in late 2011 on the idea of replacing Biden on the ticket with Hillary Clinton. The notion was dropped when the results showed no appreciable improvement for Obama, and White House officials later said Obama himself had never entertained
7110-573: The Clean Air Act . That opinion drew ire from critics who argued that Roberts and the conservative bloc manufactured a doctrine to thwart climate reforms. Since 2023, criticism of the Court by Democrats has risen, who have increasingly viewed the Court as being illegitimate. The Court's legitimacy has also been questioned by its liberal bloc of justices, as well as the general public. Aaron Regunberg in The New Republic criticized
7268-590: The Defense of Marriage Act , which prohibited the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, thereby barring individuals in such marriages from equal protection under federal law and allowing states to do the same. In 2015, the act was ruled unconstitutional in Obergefell ;v. Hodges . Biden was critical of Independent Counsel Ken Starr during the 1990s Whitewater controversy and Lewinsky scandal investigations, saying "it's going to be
7426-534: The Democratic primaries , became the party's presumptive nominee in the 2024 presidential election . Concerns about Biden's age and health persisted throughout his first term, with renewed scrutiny after his performance during the first presidential debate on June 27. On July 21, he withdrew his candidacy , becoming the first U.S. president to decline to seek reelection after securing enough delegates to win renomination. Biden endorsed Vice President Harris to be
7584-588: The Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Justices have lifetime tenure , meaning they remain on the court until they die, retire, resign, or are impeached and removed from office. When a vacancy occurs, the president , with the advice and consent of the Senate , appoints a new justice. Each justice has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before the court. When in the majority,
7742-435: The U.S. invasion of Iraq . As chair of the committee, he assembled a series of witnesses to testify in favor of the authorization. They gave testimony grossly misrepresenting the intent, history, and status of Saddam and his secular government, which was an avowed enemy of al-Qaeda , and touted Iraq's fictional possession of weapons of mass destruction . Biden eventually became a critic of the war and called his vote and role
7900-481: The University of Delaware in 1965 and a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University in 1968. He was elected to the New Castle County Council in 1970 and the U.S. Senate in 1972 . As a senator , Biden drafted and led the effort to pass the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act and the Violence Against Women Act . He also oversaw six U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings, including
8058-411: The assassination of Abraham Lincoln , was denied the opportunity to appoint a justice by a reduction in the size of the court . Jimmy Carter is the only person elected president to have left office after at least one full term without having the opportunity to appoint a justice. Presidents James Monroe , Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George W. Bush each served a full term without an opportunity to appoint
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#17327660135358216-406: The balance of power between the federal government and states, notably Martin v. Hunter's Lessee , McCulloch v. Maryland , and Gibbons v. Ogden . The Marshall Court also ended the practice of each justice issuing his opinion seriatim , a remnant of British tradition, and instead issuing a single majority opinion. Also during Marshall's tenure, although beyond the court's control,
8374-554: The death penalty , ruling first that most applications were defective ( Furman v. Georgia ), but later that the death penalty itself was not unconstitutional ( Gregg v. Georgia ). The Rehnquist Court (1986–2005) was known for its revival of judicial enforcement of federalism , emphasizing the limits of the Constitution's affirmative grants of power ( United States v. Lopez ) and the force of its restrictions on those powers ( Seminole Tribe v. Florida , City of Boerne v. Flores ). It struck down single-sex state schools as
8532-836: The oldest president in U.S. history and the first to serve with a female vice president. As president, Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent recession . He signed bipartisan bills on infrastructure and manufacturing . He proposed the Build Back Better Act , which failed in Congress, but aspects of which were incorporated into the Inflation Reduction Act that he signed into law in 2022. Biden appointed Ketanji Brown Jackson to
8690-495: The "Roberts Two-Step." Regarding Roberts' contemporaneous peers on the bench, his judicial philosophy is seen as more moderate and conciliatory than that of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas . Roberts has not indicated any particularly enhanced reading of originalism or framer's intentions as has been plainly evident in Scalia's speeches and writings. Roberts' strongest inclination on the Court has been to attempt to re-establish
8848-542: The 2008 elections . During his campaign, Biden focused on the Iraq War , his record as chairman of major Senate committees, and his foreign-policy experience. Biden was noted for his one-liners during the campaign; in one debate he said of Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani , "There's only three things he mentions in a sentence: a noun, and a verb and 9/11 ." Biden had difficulty raising funds, struggled to draw people to his rallies, and failed to gain traction against
9006-437: The 4th district seat on the New Castle County Council in 1970 on a liberal platform that included support for public housing in the suburbs. The seat had been held by Republican Henry R. Folsom, who was running in the 5th District following a reapportionment of council districts. Biden won the general election, defeating Republican Lawrence T. Messick, and took office on January 5, 1971. He served until January 1, 1973, and
9164-761: The Bill of Rights, such as in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ( First Amendment ), Heller – McDonald – Bruen ( Second Amendment ), and Baze v. Rees ( Eighth Amendment ). Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution , known as the Appointments Clause , empowers the president to nominate and, with the confirmation ( advice and consent ) of the United States Senate, to appoint public officials , including justices of
9322-834: The Brandywine in Greenville, Delaware . In 1981, the couple had a daughter, Ashley Biden . She is a social worker and married to physician Howard Krein . Jill helped raise her stepsons, Hunter and Beau, who were seven and eight respectively at the time of her marriage. Hunter has worked as a Washington lobbyist and investment adviser; his business dealings, personal life , and legal troubles have come under significant scrutiny during his father's presidency. Beau became an Army judge-advocate in Iraq and later Delaware attorney general ; he died of brain cancer in 2015. From 1991 to 2008, as an adjunct professor , Biden co-taught
9480-456: The Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." They delineated neither the exact powers and prerogatives of the Supreme Court nor the organization of the judicial branch as a whole. The 1st United States Congress provided the detailed organization of a federal judiciary through the Judiciary Act of 1789 . The Supreme Court, the country's highest judicial tribunal, was to sit in the nation's capital and would initially be composed of
9638-413: The Constitution or statutory law . Under Article Three of the United States Constitution , the composition and procedures of the Supreme Court were originally established by the 1st Congress through the Judiciary Act of 1789 . As it has since 1869, the court consists of nine justices – the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices – who meet at
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#17327660135359796-410: The Constitution provides that justices "shall hold their offices during good behavior", which is understood to mean that they may serve for the remainder of their lives, until death; furthermore, the phrase is generally interpreted to mean that the only way justices can be removed from office is by Congress via the impeachment process . The Framers of the Constitution chose good behavior tenure to limit
9954-460: The Court never had clear ideological blocs that fell perfectly along party lines. In choosing their appointments, Presidents often focused more on friendship and political connections than on ideology. Republican presidents sometimes appointed liberals and Democratic presidents sometimes appointed conservatives. As a result, "... between 1790 and early 2010 there were only two decisions that the Guide to
10112-698: The Court's code of conduct repeatedly eroded trust in the Court further, with public confidence dropping from 59% in 2018 to 37% in 2023. A 2024 survey by Marquette Law School found the court to have a 40% approval rating. Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States ( SCOTUS ) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States . It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law . It also has original jurisdiction over
10270-474: The Democratic presidential nominee. Harris lost the presidential election to Trump. Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. was born on November 20, 1942, at St. Mary's Hospital in Scranton, Pennsylvania , to Catherine Eugenia "Jean" Biden ( née Finnegan ; 1917–2010) and Joseph Robinette Biden Sr. (1915–2002) The oldest child in a Catholic family of mostly Irish descent, along with English and French; he has
10428-549: The Reagan administration to the present, the process has taken much longer and some believe this is because Congress sees justices as playing a more political role than in the past. According to the Congressional Research Service , the average number of days from nomination to final Senate vote since 1975 is 67 days (2.2 months), while the median is 71 days (2.3 months). When the Senate is in recess ,
10586-713: The Recess Appointments Clause, the Senate is in session when it says it is, provided that, under its own rules, it retains the capacity to transact Senate business." This ruling allows the Senate to prevent recess appointments through the use of pro-forma sessions . Lifetime tenure of justices can only be found for US federal judges and the State of Rhode Island's Supreme Court justices, with all other democratic nations and all other US states having set term limits or mandatory retirement ages. Larry Sabato wrote: "The insularity of lifetime tenure, combined with
10744-584: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee's objections. He received considerable attention when he excoriated Secretary of State George Shultz at a Senate hearing for the Reagan administration's support of South Africa despite its continued policy of apartheid . In a congressional hearing in 1984, he objected to the Strategic Defense Initiative plan to construct autonomous systems of ICBM defense. In
10902-542: The Senate for seven months. Biden was a longtime member of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary . He chaired it from 1987 to 1995 and was a ranking minority member from 1981 to 1987 and again from 1995 to 1997. As chair, Biden presided over two highly contentious U.S. Supreme Court confirmation hearings. When Robert Bork was nominated in 1988, Biden reversed his approval—given in an interview
11060-410: The Senate may not set any qualifications or otherwise limit who the president can choose. In modern times, the confirmation process has attracted considerable attention from the press and advocacy groups, which lobby senators to confirm or to reject a nominee depending on whether their track record aligns with the group's views. The Senate Judiciary Committee conducts hearings and votes on whether
11218-599: The Senate on September 26, 1789; however, Harrison declined to serve, and Washington later nominated James Iredell in his place. The Supreme Court held its inaugural session from February 2 through February 10, 1790, at the Royal Exchange in New York City, then the U.S. capital. A second session was held there in August 1790. The earliest sessions of the court were devoted to organizational proceedings, as
11376-507: The Senate, but the idea failed to gain traction. Biden formally declared his candidacy for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination on June 9, 1987. He was considered a strong candidate because of his moderate image, his speaking ability, his high profile as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the upcoming Robert Bork Supreme Court nomination hearings, and his appeal to Baby Boomers ; he would have been
11534-827: The Senate, and remained in office until his death in 1811. Two justices, William O. Douglas and Abe Fortas were subjected to hearings from the Judiciary Committee, with Douglas being the subject of hearings twice, in 1953 and again in 1970 and Fortas resigned while hearings were being organized in 1969. On July 10, 2024, Representative Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez filed Articles of Impeachment against justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito , citing their "widely documented financial and personal entanglements." Because justices have indefinite tenure, timing of vacancies can be unpredictable. Sometimes they arise in quick succession, as in September 1971, when Hugo Black and John Marshall Harlan II left within days of each other,
11692-577: The Supreme Court . He worked with congressional Republicans to resolve the 2023 debt-ceiling crisis by negotiating a deal to raise the debt ceiling . In his foreign policy , Biden restored America's membership in the Paris Agreement . He oversaw the complete withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan that ended the war in Afghanistan , leading to the collapse of the Afghan government and
11850-568: The Supreme Court for playing Calvinball , a game with no rules except for those made up as they go. In a July 2022 research paper entitled "The Supreme Court's Role in the Degradation of U.S. Democracy," the Campaign Legal Center , founded by Republican Trevor Potter , asserted that the Roberts Court "has turned on our democracy" and was on an "anti-democratic crusade" that had "accelerated and become increasingly extreme with
12008-425: The Supreme Court. This clause is one example of the system of checks and balances inherent in the Constitution. The president has the plenary power to nominate, while the Senate possesses the plenary power to reject or confirm the nominee. The Constitution sets no qualifications for service as a justice, such as age, citizenship, residence or prior judicial experience, thus a president may nominate anyone to serve, and
12166-778: The Taliban seizing control . He responded to the Russian invasion of Ukraine by imposing sanctions on Russia and authorizing civilian and military aid to Ukraine . During the Israel–Hamas war , Biden condemned the actions of Hamas as terrorism, announced military support for Israel and sent humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip . His administration brokered a ceasefire agreement in the Israel–Hezbollah conflict . In April 2023, Biden announced his reelection campaign and, after
12324-622: The U.S. Supreme Court designated as important and that had at least two dissenting votes in which the Justices divided along party lines, about one-half of one percent." Even in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, Democratic and Republican elites tended to agree on some major issues, especially concerning civil rights and civil liberties—and so did the justices. But since 1991, they argue, ideology has been much more important in choosing justices—all Republican appointees have been committed conservatives and all Democratic appointees have been liberals. As
12482-482: The age of 70 years 6 months and refused retirement, up to a maximum bench of 15 justices. The proposal was ostensibly to ease the burden of the docket on elderly judges, but the actual purpose was widely understood as an effort to "pack" the court with justices who would support Roosevelt's New Deal. The plan, usually called the " court-packing plan ", failed in Congress after members of Roosevelt's own Democratic Party believed it to be unconstitutional. It
12640-451: The appointments of relatively young attorneys who give long service on the bench, produces senior judges representing the views of past generations better than views of the current day." Sanford Levinson has been critical of justices who stayed in office despite medical deterioration based on longevity. James MacGregor Burns stated lifelong tenure has "produced a critical time lag, with the Supreme Court institutionally almost always behind
12798-425: The arrival" of Trump's three appointees. The Roberts Court is considered to be the most unpopular Court since Gallup started tracking public approval of the Supreme Court in 1973. Public perception of the Court was at a net negative before the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, and dropped further following the ruling. An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll indicated that allegations of Clarence Thomas having broken
12956-554: The behest of Chief Justice Chase , and in an attempt by the Republican Congress to limit the power of Democrat Andrew Johnson , Congress passed the Judicial Circuits Act of 1866, providing that the next three justices to retire would not be replaced, which would thin the bench to seven justices by attrition. Consequently, one seat was removed in 1866 and a second in 1867. Soon after Johnson left office,
13114-529: The case of Edwin M. Stanton . Although confirmed by the Senate on December 20, 1869, and duly commissioned as an associate justice by President Ulysses S. Grant , Stanton died on December 24, prior to taking the prescribed oaths. He is not, therefore, considered to have been a member of the court. Before 1981, the approval process of justices was usually rapid. From the Truman through Nixon administrations, justices were typically approved within one month. From
13272-437: The centrist aesthetics of the Court as being party neutral, in contrast to his predecessor Rehnquist who had devoted significant effort to promote a 'states-rights' orientation for the Court. Roberts' voting pattern is most closely aligned with Brett Kavanaugh 's. After Ginsburg was replaced by Barrett, several commentators wrote that Roberts was no longer the leading justice. As the five other conservative justices could outvote
13430-403: The chief justice decides who writes the opinion of the court ; otherwise, the most senior justice in the majority assigns the task of writing the opinion. On average, the Supreme Court receives about 7,000 petitions for writs of certiorari each year, but only grants about 80. It was while debating the separation of powers between the legislative and executive departments that delegates to
13588-446: The committee reports out the nomination, the full Senate considers it. Rejections are relatively uncommon; the Senate has explicitly rejected twelve Supreme Court nominees, most recently Robert Bork , nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. Although Senate rules do not necessarily allow a negative or tied vote in committee to block a nomination, prior to 2017 a nomination could be blocked by filibuster once debate had begun in
13746-458: The confirmation of her successor. However, before the Senate could act upon the nomination, Chief Justice William Rehnquist died. President Bush quickly withdrew the initial nomination and resubmitted it as a nomination for Chief Justice; this second Roberts nomination was confirmed by the Senate on September 29, 2005, by a 78–22 vote. Roberts took the constitutional oath of office , administered by senior Associate Justice John Paul Stevens (who
13904-502: The confirmation of the more conservative Justice Samuel Alito . The ideological balance of the court shifted further to the right in the following years through the replacement of swing-vote Anthony Kennedy with Brett Kavanaugh in 2018 and the replacement of liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Amy Coney Barrett in 2020. Roberts was originally nominated by President George W. Bush as an associate justice to succeed Sandra Day O'Connor , who had announced her retirement, effective with
14062-569: The contentious hearings for Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas . Biden ran unsuccessfully for the 1988 and 2008 Democratic presidential nominations . In 2008, Obama chose Biden as his running mate, and he was a close counselor to Obama during his two terms as vice president. In the 2020 presidential election , the Democratic Party nominated Biden for president. He selected Kamala Harris as his running mate, and they defeated Republican incumbents Donald Trump and Mike Pence . He became
14220-510: The court (by order of seniority following the Chief Justice) include: For much of the court's history, every justice was a man of Northwestern European descent, and almost always Protestant . Diversity concerns focused on geography, to represent all regions of the country, rather than religious, ethnic, or gender diversity. Racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in the court increased in the late 20th century. Thurgood Marshall became
14378-505: The court continued to favor government power, upholding the internment of Japanese Americans ( Korematsu v. United States ) and the mandatory Pledge of Allegiance ( Minersville School District v. Gobitis ). Nevertheless, Gobitis was soon repudiated ( West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette ), and the Steel Seizure Case restricted the pro-government trend. The Warren Court (1953–1969) dramatically expanded
14536-437: The court initially had only six members, every decision that it made by a majority was also made by two-thirds (voting four to two). However, Congress has always allowed less than the court's full membership to make decisions, starting with a quorum of four justices in 1789. The court lacked a home of its own and had little prestige, a situation not helped by the era's highest-profile case, Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), which
14694-425: The court is composed of six justices appointed by Republican presidents and three appointed by Democratic presidents. It is popularly accepted that Chief Justice Roberts and associate justices Thomas , Alito , Gorsuch , Kavanaugh , and Barrett, appointed by Republican presidents, compose the court's conservative wing, and that Justices Sotomayor , Kagan , and Jackson , appointed by Democratic presidents, compose
14852-573: The court the most conservative since the 1930s as well as calls for an expansion in the court's size to fix what some saw as an imbalance, with Republicans having appointed 14 of the 18 justices immediately preceding Amy Coney Barrett . In April 2021, during the 117th Congress , some Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced the Judiciary Act of 2021, a bill to expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 seats. It met divided views within
15010-515: The court's liberal wing. Prior to Justice Ginsburg's death in 2020, the conservative Chief Justice Roberts was sometimes described as the court's 'median justice' (with four justices more liberal and four more conservative than he is). Darragh Roche argues that Kavanaugh as 2021's median justice exemplifies the rightward shift in the court. Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. ( / ˈ r ɒ b ɪ n ɪ t ˈ b aɪ d ən / ROB -in-it BY -dən ; born November 20, 1942)
15168-594: The court's members. The Constitution assumes the existence of the office of the chief justice, because it mentions in Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 that "the Chief Justice" must preside over impeachment trials of the President of the United States . The power to define the Supreme Court's size and membership has been assumed to belong to Congress, which initially established a six-member Supreme Court composed of
15326-428: The debate overall. On November 4, Obama and Biden were elected with 53% of the popular vote and 365 electoral votes to McCain and Palin's 173. At the same time Biden was running for vice president, he was also running for reelection to the Senate, as permitted by Delaware law. On November 4, he was reelected to the Senate, defeating Republican Christine O'Donnell . Having won both races, Biden made
15484-505: The election, Biden trailed Boggs by almost thirty percentage points, but his energy, attractive young family, and ability to connect with voters' emotions worked to his advantage, and he won with 50.5% of the vote. A few weeks after Biden was elected senator, his wife Neilia and one-year-old daughter Naomi were killed in an automobile accident while Christmas shopping in Hockessin, Delaware , on December 18, 1972. Neilia's station wagon
15642-801: The electoral recount during the 2000 United States presidential election , remains especially controversial with debate ongoing over the rightful winner and whether or not the ruling should set a precedent. The Roberts Court (2005–present) is regarded as more conservative and controversial than the Rehnquist Court. Some of its major rulings have concerned federal preemption ( Wyeth v. Levine ), civil procedure ( Twombly – Iqbal ), voting rights and federal preclearance ( Shelby County ), abortion ( Gonzales v. Carhart and Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ), climate change ( Massachusetts v. EPA ), same-sex marriage ( United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges ), and
15800-518: The family lived with Biden's maternal grandparents in Scranton. Scranton fell into economic decline during the 1950s and Biden's father could not find steady work. Beginning in 1953 when Biden was ten, the family lived in an apartment in Claymont, Delaware , before moving to a house in nearby Mayfield, Delaware . Biden Sr. later became a successful used-car salesman , maintaining the family in
15958-421: The first African-American justice in 1967. Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice in 1981. In 1986, Antonin Scalia became the first Italian-American justice. Marshall was succeeded by African-American Clarence Thomas in 1991. O'Connor was joined by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman on the Court, in 1993. After O'Connor's retirement Ginsburg was joined in 2009 by Sonia Sotomayor ,
16116-1242: The first Hispanic and Latina justice, and in 2010 by Elena Kagan. After Ginsburg's death on September 18, 2020, Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed as the fifth woman in the court's history on October 26, 2020. Ketanji Brown Jackson is the sixth woman and first African-American woman on the court. There have been six foreign-born justices in the court's history: James Wilson (1789–1798), born in Caskardy , Scotland; James Iredell (1790–1799), born in Lewes , England; William Paterson (1793–1806), born in County Antrim , Ireland; David Brewer (1889–1910), born to American missionaries in Smyrna , Ottoman Empire (now İzmir , Turkey); George Sutherland (1922–1939), born in Buckinghamshire , England; and Felix Frankfurter (1939–1962), born in Vienna , Austria-Hungary (now in Austria). Since 1789, about one-third of
16274-418: The first cases did not reach it until 1791. When the nation's capital was moved to Philadelphia in 1790, the Supreme Court did so as well. After initially meeting at Independence Hall , the court established its chambers at City Hall. Under chief justices Jay, Rutledge, and Ellsworth (1789–1801), the court heard few cases; its first decision was West v. Barnes (1791), a case involving procedure. As
16432-577: The force of Constitutional civil liberties . It held that segregation in public schools violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment ( Brown v. Board of Education , Bolling v. Sharpe , and Green v. County School Bd. ) and that legislative districts must be roughly equal in population ( Reynolds v. Sims ). It recognized a general right to privacy ( Griswold v. Connecticut ), limited
16590-400: The formulation on previous occasions, but did not on two occasions in late August. Kinnock himself was more forgiving; the two men met in 1988, forming an enduring friendship. Earlier that year, Biden had also used passages from a 1967 speech by Robert F. Kennedy (for which his aides took blame) and a short phrase from John F. Kennedy's inaugural address ; two years earlier he had used
16748-407: The full Senate. President Lyndon B. Johnson 's nomination of sitting associate justice Abe Fortas to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice in 1968 was the first successful filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. It included both Republican and Democratic senators concerned with Fortas's ethics. President Donald Trump 's nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the seat left vacant by Antonin Scalia 's death
16906-469: The high-profile candidacies of Obama and Senator Hillary Clinton . He never rose above single digits in national polls of the Democratic candidates . In the first contest on January 3, 2008, Biden placed fifth in the Iowa caucuses , garnering slightly less than one percent of the state delegates. He withdrew from the race that evening. Despite its lack of success, Biden's 2008 campaign raised his stature in
17064-548: The hope of guiding executive action. The Supreme Court's 2014 decision in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning limited the ability of the president to make recess appointments (including appointments to the Supreme Court); the court ruled that the Senate decides when the Senate is in session or in recess. Writing for the court, Justice Breyer stated, "We hold that, for purposes of
17222-454: The impeachment and acquittal of Justice Samuel Chase from 1804 to 1805 helped cement the principle of judicial independence . The Taney Court (1836–1864) made several important rulings, such as Sheldon v. Sill , which held that while Congress may not limit the subjects the Supreme Court may hear, it may limit the jurisdiction of the lower federal courts to prevent them from hearing cases dealing with certain subjects. Nevertheless, it
17380-471: The justices have been U.S. military veterans. Samuel Alito is the only veteran currently serving on the court. Retired justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy also served in the U.S. military. Justices are nominated by the president in power, and receive confirmation by the Senate, historically holding many of the views of the nominating president's political party. While justices do not represent or receive official endorsements from political parties, as
17538-523: The liberal bloc. Roberts has also served as a swing vote, often advocating for narrow rulings and compromise among the two blocs of justices. Though the Court sometimes does divide along partisan lines, attorney and SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein has noted that more cases are decided 9–0 and that the individual justices hold a wide array of views. The judicial philosophy of Roberts on the Supreme Court has been assessed by leading court commentators including Jeffrey Rosen and Marcia Coyle. Although Roberts
17696-609: The mid-1970s, Biden was one of the Senate's strongest opponents of race-integration busing . His Delaware constituents strongly opposed it, and such opposition nationwide later led his party to mostly abandon school integration policies. In his first Senate campaign, Biden had expressed support for busing to remedy de jure segregation , as in the South, but opposed its use to remedy de facto segregation arising from racial patterns of neighborhood residency, as in Delaware; he opposed
17854-616: The mid-1990s his "proudest moment in public life" related to foreign policy. In 1999, during the Kosovo War , Biden supported the 1999 NATO bombing of FR Yugoslavia . He and Senator John McCain co-sponsored the McCain-Biden Kosovo Resolution, which called on Clinton to use all necessary force, including ground troops, to confront Milošević over Yugoslav actions toward ethnic Albanians in Kosovo . Biden
18012-405: The more moderate Republican justices retired, the court has become more partisan. The Court became more divided sharply along partisan lines with justices appointed by Republican presidents taking increasingly conservative positions and those appointed by Democrats taking moderate liberal positions. Following the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg ,
18170-428: The most recent justice to join the court is Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose tenure began on June 30, 2022, after being confirmed by the Senate on April 7. This graphical timeline depicts the length of each current Supreme Court justice's tenure (not seniority, as the chief justice has seniority over all associate justices regardless of tenure) on the court: The court currently has five male and four female justices. Among
18328-461: The nation's boundaries grew across the continent and as Supreme Court justices in those days had to ride the circuit , an arduous process requiring long travel on horseback or carriage over harsh terrain that resulted in months-long extended stays away from home, Congress added justices to correspond with the growth such that the number of seats for associate justices plus the chief justice became seven in 1807 , nine in 1837 , and ten in 1863 . At
18486-412: The new president Ulysses S. Grant , a Republican, signed into law the Judiciary Act of 1869 . This returned the number of justices to nine (where it has since remained), and allowed Grant to immediately appoint two more judges. President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to expand the court in 1937. His proposal envisioned the appointment of one additional justice for each incumbent justice who reached
18644-451: The nine justices, there are two African American justices (Justices Thomas and Jackson ) and one Hispanic justice (Justice Sotomayor ). One of the justices was born to at least one immigrant parent: Justice Alito 's father was born in Italy. At least six justices are Roman Catholics , one is Jewish , and one is Protestant . It is unclear whether Neil Gorsuch considers himself
18802-408: The nomination should go to the full Senate with a positive, negative or neutral report. The committee's practice of personally interviewing nominees is relatively recent. The first nominee to appear before the committee was Harlan Fiske Stone in 1925, who sought to quell concerns about his links to Wall Street , and the modern practice of questioning began with John Marshall Harlan II in 1955. Once
18960-472: The party, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi did not bring it to the floor for a vote. Shortly after taking office in January 2021, President Joe Biden established a presidential commission to study possible reforms to the Supreme Court. The commission's December 2021 final report discussed but took no position on expanding the size of the court. At nine members, the U.S. Supreme Court
19118-473: The political world. In particular, it changed the relationship between Biden and Obama. Although they had served together on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee , they had not been close: Biden resented Obama's quick rise to political stardom, while Obama viewed Biden as garrulous and patronizing. Having gotten to know each other during 2007, Obama appreciated Biden's campaign style and appeal to working-class voters, and Biden said he became convinced Obama
19276-399: The power to remove justices and to ensure judicial independence . No constitutional mechanism exists for removing a justice who is permanently incapacitated by illness or injury, but unable (or unwilling) to resign. The only justice ever to be impeached was Samuel Chase , in 1804. The House of Representatives adopted eight articles of impeachment against him; however, he was acquitted by
19434-458: The press devoted far more coverage to the Republican nominee, Alaska governor Sarah Palin . Under instructions from the campaign, Biden kept his speeches succinct and tried to avoid offhand remarks, such as one he made about Obama's being tested by a foreign power soon after taking office, which had attracted negative attention. Privately, Biden's remarks frustrated Obama. "How many times
19592-468: The previous year—of a hypothetical Bork nomination. Conservatives were angered, but at the hearings' close Biden was praised for his fairness, humor, and courage. Rejecting the arguments of some Bork opponents, Biden framed his objections to Bork in terms of the conflict between Bork's strong originalism and the view that the U.S. Constitution provides rights to liberty and privacy beyond those explicitly enumerated in its text. Bork's nomination
19750-477: The proposed Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 became a major factor in the campaign, Biden voted for the $ 700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 , which passed in the Senate, 74–25. On October 2, he participated in the vice-presidential debate with Palin at Washington University in St. Louis . Post-debate polls found that while Palin exceeded many voters' expectations, Biden had won
19908-455: The rest, he supposedly could no longer preside over a moderately conservative course while respecting precedent. Some said this view was confirmed by the court's 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , which overturned the landmark rulings Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey of 1973 and 1992, respectively. The conservative bloc is sometimes further split into
20066-423: The role of religion in public school, most prominently Engel v. Vitale and Abington School District v. Schempp , incorporated most guarantees of the Bill of Rights against the states, prominently Mapp v. Ohio (the exclusionary rule ) and Gideon v. Wainwright ( right to appointed counsel ), and required that criminal suspects be apprised of all these rights by police ( Miranda v. Arizona ). At
20224-575: The same time, the court limited defamation suits by public figures ( New York Times Co. v. Sullivan ) and supplied the government with an unbroken run of antitrust victories. The Burger Court (1969–1986) saw a conservative shift. It also expanded Griswold ' s right to privacy to strike down abortion laws ( Roe v. Wade ) but divided deeply on affirmative action ( Regents of the University of California v. Bakke ) and campaign finance regulation ( Buckley v. Valeo ). It also wavered on
20382-467: The second-youngest person elected president, after John F. Kennedy . He raised more in the first quarter of 1987 than any other candidate. By August his campaign's messaging had become confused due to staff rivalries, and in September, he was accused of plagiarizing a speech by British Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock . Biden's speech had similar lines about being the first person in his family to attend university. Biden had credited Kinnock with
20540-407: The shortest period of time between vacancies in the court's history. Sometimes a great length of time passes between vacancies, such as the 11-year span, from 1994 to 2005, from the retirement of Harry Blackmun to the death of William Rehnquist , which was the second longest timespan between vacancies in the court's history. On average a new justice joins the court about every two years. Despite
20698-554: The state of New York, two are from Washington, D.C., and one each is from New Jersey, Georgia, Colorado, and Louisiana. Eight of the current justices received their Juris Doctor from an Ivy League law school : Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and John Roberts from Harvard ; plus Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh , Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas from Yale . Only Amy Coney Barrett did not; she received her Juris Doctor at Notre Dame . Previous positions or offices, judicial or federal government, prior to joining
20856-484: The strategy behind the choice reflected a desire to fill out the ticket with someone with foreign policy and national security experience. Others pointed out Biden's appeal to middle-class and blue-collar voters. Biden was officially nominated for vice president on August 27 by voice vote at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver . Biden's vice-presidential campaigning gained little media attention, as
21014-604: The substantive due process doctrine to its first apogee ( Adkins v. Children's Hospital ). During the Hughes , Stone , and Vinson courts (1930–1953), the court gained its own accommodation in 1935 and changed its interpretation of the Constitution , giving a broader reading to the powers of the federal government to facilitate President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal (most prominently West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish , Wickard v. Filburn , United States v. Darby , and United States v. Butler ). During World War II ,
21172-474: The times." Proposals to solve these problems include term limits for justices, as proposed by Levinson and Sabato and a mandatory retirement age proposed by Richard Epstein , among others. Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 78 argued that one benefit of lifetime tenure was that, "nothing can contribute so much to its firmness and independence as permanency in office." Article Three, Section 1 of
21330-447: The variability, all but four presidents have been able to appoint at least one justice. William Henry Harrison died a month after taking office, although his successor ( John Tyler ) made an appointment during that presidential term. Likewise, Zachary Taylor died 16 months after taking office, but his successor ( Millard Fillmore ) also made a Supreme Court nomination before the end of that term. Andrew Johnson, who became president after
21488-413: Was "dead, flat wrong" in believing the surge could work. Biden instead advocated dividing Iraq into a loose federation of three ethnic states. Rather than continue the existing approach or withdrawing, the plan called for "a third way": federalizing Iraq and giving Kurds , Shiites , and Sunnis "breathing room" in their own regions. In September 2007, a non-binding resolution endorsing the plan passed
21646-419: Was "the real deal". Shortly after Biden withdrew from the presidential race, Obama privately told him he was interested in finding an important place for Biden in his administration. In early August, Obama and Biden met in secret to discuss the possibility, and developed a strong personal rapport. On August 22, 2008, Obama announced that Biden would be his running mate . The New York Times reported that
21804-519: Was a strong supporter of the War in Afghanistan , saying, "Whatever it takes, we should do it." As head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he said in 2002 that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was a threat to national security and there was no other option than to "eliminate" that threat. In October 2002, he voted in favor of the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq , approving
21962-465: Was among the first to call for the " lift and strike " policy. The George H. W. Bush administration and Clinton administration were both reluctant to implement the policy, fearing Balkan entanglement. In April 1993, Biden held a tense three-hour meeting with Serbian leader Slobodan Milošević . Biden worked on several versions of legislative language urging the U.S. toward greater involvement. Biden has called his role in affecting Balkan policy in
22120-449: Was confirmed by the Senate. Breyer remained on the Court until it went into its summer recess on June 30, at which point Jackson was sworn in, becoming the first black woman and the first former federal public defender to serve on the Supreme Court. Note: The blue vertical line denotes "now" (November 2024). Presidents during this court have been George W. Bush , Barack Obama , Donald Trump , and Joe Biden . Congresses included
22278-427: Was confirmed. In September 2020, Justice Ginsburg died; Trump nominated Amy Coney Barrett to succeed Ginsburg and she was confirmed on October 26, 2020, days before the 2020 election . In 2022, Breyer announced his retirement effective at the end of the Supreme Court term, assuming his successor was confirmed, in a letter to President Joe Biden . Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson to succeed Breyer, and she
22436-453: Was defeated 70–20 in the Senate, and the Senate Judiciary Committee reported that it was "essential to the continuance of our constitutional democracy" that the proposal "be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America." The expansion of a 5–4 conservative majority to a 6–3 supermajority during the first presidency of Donald Trump led to analysts calling
22594-675: Was filled with anger and religious doubt. He wrote that he "felt God had played a horrible trick" on him and had trouble focusing on work. Biden met teacher Jill Tracy Jacobs in 1975 on a blind date . They married at the United Nations chapel in New York on June 17, 1977, and spent their honeymoon at Lake Balaton in the Hungarian People's Republic . Biden credits her with the renewal of his interest in politics and life. The couple attends Mass at St. Joseph's on
22752-501: Was first elected in 1970, until Roth was defeated in 2000. As of 2024 , he was the 19th-longest-serving senator in U.S. history. During his early years in the Senate, Biden focused on consumer protection and environmental issues and called for greater government accountability. In a 1974 interview, he described himself as liberal on civil rights and liberties, senior citizens' concerns and healthcare, but conservative on other issues, including abortion and military conscription . Biden
22910-532: Was held in a Catholic church in Skaneateles, New York . They had three children: Joseph R. "Beau" Biden III , Robert Hunter Biden , and Naomi Christina "Amy" Biden. Biden earned a Juris Doctor from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968. In his first year of law school, he failed a course because he plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote, but the failing grade was later stricken. His grades were relatively poor, and he graduated 76th in
23068-446: Was hit by a semi-trailer truck as she pulled out from an intersection. Their sons Beau (aged 3) and Hunter (aged 2) were in the car and were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, Beau with a broken leg and other wounds and Hunter with a minor skull fracture and other head injuries. Biden considered resigning to care for them, but Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield persuaded him not to. Biden contemplated suicide and
23226-554: Was last changed in 1869, when it was set at nine. Under the White and Taft Courts (1910–1930), the court held that the Fourteenth Amendment had incorporated some guarantees of the Bill of Rights against the states ( Gitlow v. New York ), grappled with the new antitrust statutes ( Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States ), upheld the constitutionality of military conscription ( Selective Draft Law Cases ), and brought
23384-630: Was never considered by the Senate, and it expired when the 114th Congress ended and the 115th Congress began on January 3, 2017. On January 31, 2017, President Donald Trump nominated Neil Gorsuch to replace Scalia. Democrats in the Senate filibustered the Gorsuch nomination, which led to the Republicans exercising the " nuclear option ". After that, Gorsuch was confirmed in April 2017. In 2018, Trump nominated Brett Kavanaugh to replace Kennedy; he
23542-463: Was not acted on by the Senate; Eisenhower re-nominated Harlan in January 1955, and Harlan was confirmed two months later. Most recently, the Senate failed to act on the March 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland, as the nomination expired in January 2017, and the vacancy was filled by Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of President Trump. Once the Senate confirms a nomination, the president must prepare and sign
23700-409: Was rejected in the committee by a 5–9 vote and then in the full Senate, 42–58. During Clarence Thomas's nomination hearings in 1991, Biden's questions on constitutional issues were often convoluted to the point that Thomas sometimes lost track of them, and Thomas later wrote that Biden's questions were akin to " beanballs ". After the committee hearing closed, the public learned that Anita Hill ,
23858-640: Was reversed within two years by the adoption of the Eleventh Amendment . The court's power and prestige grew substantially during the Marshall Court (1801–1835). Under Marshall, the court established the power of judicial review over acts of Congress, including specifying itself as the supreme expositor of the Constitution ( Marbury v. Madison ) and making several important constitutional rulings that gave shape and substance to
24016-493: Was succeeded by Democrat Francis R. Swift. During his time on the county council, Biden opposed large highway projects, which he argued might disrupt Wilmington neighborhoods. Biden had not openly supported or opposed the Vietnam War until he ran for Senate and opposed Richard Nixon's conduct of the war. While studying at the University of Delaware and Syracuse University, Biden obtained five student draft deferments at
24174-421: Was the seventh-youngest senator in U.S. history . To see his sons, Biden traveled by train between his Delaware home and D.C. —74 minutes each way—and maintained this habit throughout his 36 years in the Senate. Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 , Biden was reelected in 1978 , 1984 , 1990 , 1996 , 2002 , and 2008 , regularly receiving about 60% of the vote. He was junior senator to William Roth , who
24332-722: Was the acting chief justice during the vacancy) at the White House after his confirmation the same day. On October 3, Roberts took the judicial oath provided for by the Judiciary Act of 1789 , prior to the first oral arguments of the 2005 term. The Roberts Court commenced with Roberts as Chief Justice and the remaining eight associate justices from the Rehnquist Court : Stevens, O'Connor, Antonin Scalia , Anthony Kennedy , David Souter , Clarence Thomas , Ruth Bader Ginsburg , and Stephen Breyer . President Bush's second nominee to replace O'Connor, Harriet Miers , withdrew before
24490-599: Was the first U.S. senator to endorse Jimmy Carter for president in the 1976 Democratic primary . Carter went on to win the Democratic nomination and defeat incumbent Republican President Gerald Ford in the 1976 election . Biden also worked on arms control . After Congress failed to ratify the SALT II Treaty signed in 1979 by Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev and President Jimmy Carter, Biden met with Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko to communicate American concerns and secured changes that addressed
24648-528: Was the second. Unlike the Fortas filibuster, only Democratic senators voted against cloture on the Gorsuch nomination, citing his perceived conservative judicial philosophy, and the Republican majority's prior refusal to take up President Barack Obama 's nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy. This led the Republican majority to change the rules and eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations. Not every Supreme Court nominee has received
24806-564: Was thought to have no chance of winning. Family members managed and staffed the campaign, which relied on meeting voters face-to-face and hand-distributing position papers, an approach made feasible by Delaware's small size. He received help from the AFL-CIO and Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell . His platform focused on the environment, withdrawal from Vietnam, civil rights, mass transit, equitable taxation, health care and public dissatisfaction with "politics as usual". A few months before
24964-428: Was unpopular among progressives and criticized for resulting in mass incarceration; in 2019, Biden called his role in passing the bill a "big mistake", citing its policy on crack cocaine and saying that the bill "trapped an entire generation". Biden voted for a 1993 provision that deemed homosexuality incompatible with military life, thereby banning gay people from serving in the armed forces. In 1996, he voted for
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