Till Death Do Us Part: Chief Justices and the United States Supreme Court

Authors

Todd C. Peppers, Washington and Lee University School of LawFollow
Chad M. Oldfather, Marquette University Law SchoolFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Marquette Law Review

Publication Date

2011

Abstract

In this Essay, we identify and explore an additional institutional difficulty, which bridges these last two components of the proposed Act. Prior commentary has chronicled the phenomenon of Justices serving beyond the point at which they are able to perform their duties. It has also addressed the unique powers and responsibilities of the Chief Justice, with some arguing that the administrative aspects of the role should be divorced from the effectively life tenure associated with a position on the Court. We wish to highlight a connection. The unique powers and responsibilities of the center chair may make Chief Justices even more likely than Associate Justices to take their lifetime appointments literally, while at the same time increasing the potential consequences of a Chief Justice’s decision to do so in the face of physical or mental disability.

Recommended Citation

Todd C. Peppers & Chad M. Oldfather, Till Death Do Us Part: Chief Justices and the United States Supreme Court, 95 Marq. L. Rev. 709 (2011).