Power+Points+-+The+Judiciary+-+The+Courts+and+Public+Policy

GOVT 2302 The Judiciary The Courts and Public Policy Whether deliberate or not, the Supreme Court has an impact on public policy. Appointments to the court are often made with this in mind. This is also true for cases brought before the court. Test Case, definition: A dispute arranged with the intent of forcing the Supreme Court to determine the constitutionality of a statute. In a successful case, the courts rule that a statute violates the Constitution and is therefore null and void. Examples:

Plessy v. Ferguson Brown v. Board of Education Griswold v. Conn DC v. Heller Segregated railcars Segregated schools Laws banning birth control gun control laws Tests cases are only successful if the court chooses to hear it and if the composition of the court is amenable to the desired change. They are not always successful. Even if they are, the results can be controversial since the policy was changed by a judicial decision, not legislation. How do these cases, and cases in general, get to the Supreme Court? The process begins with a trial:

Law Suit Deliberate Violation of Law Opportunity Upon conviction, a procedural irregularity may result in an appeal.

An appeal may also emerge from a motion introduced in court to suppress the introduction of evidence or a claim that a statute is unconstitutional. Appellate courts have the first crack at reviewing appeals.

These can emerge from the federal or state courts. A party who wants the Supreme Court to review a decision of a federal or state court files a "petition for writ of certiorari" in the Supreme Court. Writ of Certiorari:

The writ that the Supreme Court of the United States issues to a lower court to review the lower court's judgment for legal error and review.  Rule of Four

Four members of the Supreme Court must agree to hear a case before it can be heard. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Constitutional Issue

Usually they only agree to hear cases that raise an important constitutional issue. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Recent issues:

Is a search unreasonable? Is a punishment cruel and unusual? What can be patented? What is speech? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Outcomes are based on how the Supreme Court Justices interpret constitutional language, and what role the see the court playing in the policy process. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">If the case is accepted, briefs are submitted by the petitioner and the respondent. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Friend of the court (or Amicus) can also be submitted by third parties and interest groups with an interest in the outcome, though are not involved in the specific dispute. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Oral Arguments

30 minute (more or less) arguments before the SC on either side of a case. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Conference

Meeting after oral arguments which can include a vote for petitioner of respondent <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Opinion Writing

Majority opinion written by senior justice on majority, or assigned by that justice to another. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Majority Opinion

Contains interpretation of statutory of constitutional law <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Concurrence

Written by Justices who agree with the outcome of the vote, but not the rationale for it by the majority <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Dissent

Written by Justices who voted against the majority. Can provide rationale for future majority decisions: ie., Plessy, Abrams. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The battle over control of the Supreme Court is in essence a battle over the interpretation of the Constitution. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Supreme Court appointments are often made with the intent of influencing how the Constitution will be interpreted. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">This is one of the advantages of winning presidential elections. It can be the longest influence that a president can have on government.

Example: W. Bush’s appointment of Roberts and Alito. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Historical example:

Early court appointments helped further nationalist aims of the Federalists. This included Adam’s midnight appointments <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">But Presidential influence is limited by composition of the Senate and consequence of lifetime tenure.

Since Justices are not subject to elections, they do not respond to shifts in the elected institutions <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Four Horsemen

The members of the court that consistently voted against New Deal legislation. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">FDR denounced their "horse-and-buggy" definition of interstate commerce. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States

National Industrial Recovery Act was ruled unconstitutional because it gave the President too much lawmaking power. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Court Packing

Response to the Four Horsemen. FRD proposed adding 6 new seats to cancel them out, plus two members who occasionally voted with them. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Four Horsemen

[|James Clark McReynolds] [|George Sutherland] [|Willis Van][|Devanter] [|Pierce Butler] <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Three Musketeers

[|Louis Brandeis] [|Benjamin Cardozo] [|Harlan Stone]

supported New Deal policies <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">[|Charles Evans Hughes] [|Owen J. Roberts]

Held the balance of power. Switched votes following court packing plan. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The New Deal Court

More willing to restrain itself and broadly interpret constitutional language to justify New Deal policies.

Jones and Laughlin Steel Co. v. NLRB

Included a broader definition of “commerce.” <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Warren Court

Willing to take an activist position to impose civil rights policies on the states.

Civil Rights Due Process <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 28pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Believed that heightened judicial scrutiny might be appropriate in three types of cases:

1 - those where a law was challenged as a deprivation of a specifically enumerated right (such as a challenge to a law because it denies "freedom of speech," a phrase specifically included in the Bill of Rights);

2 - those where a challenged law made it more difficult to achieve change through normal political processes; and

3 - those where a law impinged on the rights of "discrete and insular minorities." <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Incorporated many due process rights to the states. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Examples of Case:

Brown v. Board of Ed. Baker v. Carr Mapp v. Ohio Griswold v. Conn Miranda v. Arizona Engel v. Vitale Gideon v. Wainwright <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Topics:

Desegregation One Person One Vote Expanded the Exclusionary Rule Right to Privacy Self Incrimination Prayers in Public Schools Right to Counsel <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Led to political backlash.

Nixon successfully ran against the “permissive” decisions of the Warren Court in 1968.

Law and Order. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Most significant appointment: William Rehnquist as Associate Justice. He would become Chief Justice in 1986. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Rehnquist Court

Reaction to Warren. Previous rulings not overturned, but limited. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Ideological divisions on the current court <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Conservative Decisions

<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 40pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Restrictions on Standing Limits on Recognized Rights Difficult to establish violations of rights Protective of Police Behavior More Power sent back to the States <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Liberal Decisions

<span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 40pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Willing to recognize additional rights Supportive of equal protection claims <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> rights of criminal defendants supportive of national power <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Recent appointments have given the conservatives an opportunity to impact policy

Republican success in Presidential Elections has led to 6 out of 9 Justices being appointed by R presidents. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Increasingly influential ideologically oriented interest groups

Federalist Society

American Constitution Society <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Problem:

Should ideological changes be driven by activist decisions? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The goal of many conservatives on the court is to roll back the broad interpretation of national power that has developed since the New Deal. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Constitution in Exile

Some conservatives have a goal of returning the interpretation of the Constitution back to what existed prior to the New Deal. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 36pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">They support reinstating provisions "exiled" from the Constitution. This would mean "reimposing meaningful limits on federal power that could strike at the core of the regulatory state for the first time since the New Deal. These justices would change the shape of laws governing the environment, workplace health and safety, anti-discrimination, and civil rights, making it difficult for the federal government“ to enforce these laws. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Is this best accomplished by aggressive broadly defined decisions, or by slow incremental change? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Current U.S. Supreme Court

Birth Years Included <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Conservatives

Scalia, 1936 Thomas, 1948 Roberts, 1955 Alito, 1950 <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Liberals

Ginsburg, 1933 Breyer, 1938 Stevens, 1920 Sotomayor, 1954 (expected) <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">The Swing Voter

Anthony Kennedy, 1936 <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Get Kennedy’s vote and you win <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Scalia and Thomas are considered to be activists willing to quickly and authoritatively overturn New Deal precedence.

Alito and Roberts are considered to be minimalists who share the same goals as the other two, but want to take incremental steps <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Recent shifts in court rulings: <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Contractions in affirmative action and the general notion of rights. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1

Diversity no longer considered to be a compelling public purpose <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Lily Ledbetter <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Expansions of reasonable searches <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Exclusionary Rule limited. Good Faith exceptions allowed.

Miranda Warnings challenged <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Increased denials of standing <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Expanded gun rights

DC v. Heller <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Increased allowances of religion in public areas <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Van Orden v. Perry

Religious displays around Texas Capitol OK since they were historically significant. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Expansions of state rights

State Sovereign Immunity <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Alden v. Maine

The Fair Labor Standards Act was found unconstitutional. this time in state court. Maine had sovereign immunity and could not be sued by private parties in their own court. <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Will Obama’s election halt this trend? <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">Potential vacancies on the Supreme Court <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">[|Summary of Judicial Vacancies] <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;"> <span style="color: black; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 44pt; language: en-US; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: +mj-cs; mso-color-index: 1; mso-fareast-font-family: +mj-ea; mso-font-kerning: 12.0pt;">