Can John Roberts be nominated as Chief Justice?

September 4, 2005 8:54 AM

Can President Bush nominate John Roberts for Chief Justice?

I mean, I know he can, but would there be procedural wranglings involved? Has he nominated Roberts to a specific associate justice seat or just "to the Supreme Court"? AFAIK, the confirmation process is the same -- can he just say "oh, by the way, I want Roberts to fill Rehnquist's seat upon confirmation, and I'll throw in a justice to be named later for O'Connor's"? Or is Roberts locked into an associate justice spot, and the only way he could become CJ is to be elevated?

posted by Vidiot to Law & Government (3 answers total)

Best answer: Bush has officially nominated Roberts to be Associate Justice. Since proceedings have not yet begun, though, he could very easily change the nomination to be for Chief Justice. The NYT this morning (no link, sorry) suggested that might happen, since Roberts used to be Rehnquist's law clerk.
posted by cerebus19 at 8:59 AM on September 4, 2005

Here's a link to the NYT article I mentioned.
posted by cerebus19 at 9:02 AM on September 4, 2005

Followup: It happened.
posted by gleuschk at 5:59 AM on September 5, 2005