CHIEF JUSTICE
The presiding, most senior, or principal judge of a court.
Although the office of the chief justice of the SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES is a prestigious position, the functions and powers of the chief justice are not well-defined. The U.S. Constitution contains only one mention of the chief justice, in Article I, Section 3, and it concerns the IMPEACHMENT of the president: ”When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside.” The JUDICIARY ACT OF 1789, which created the Supreme Court, specified only “[t]hat the supreme court of the United States shall consist of a chief justice and five associate justices” (1 Stat. 73). As a result, each individual who has occupied the post has had the freedom to shape and define the role.
Succession of Supreme Court Justices
Like the associate justices of the Supreme
Court, the chief justice is appointed for life by the president but must first be confirmed by the Senate. Prior service on the Court is not required, though several chief justices, including HARLAN F. STONE and WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST, served as associate justices before becoming
chief justice. Many chief justices served in other branches of government before joining the Court: JOHN MARSHALL and ROGER B. TANEY were cabinet members, EDWARD D.WHITE was a
U.S. senator, and EARL WARREN was governor of California. Other chief justices came to the Court as judges from lower federal and state courts or practiced law prior to their appointments.
The chief justice’s primary duty is to preside
over all Supreme Court proceedings, both those open to the public and those held in private. The
chief justice traditionally opens and closes the
public sessions in which the Court hears oral
arguments. He or she wields the most influence
in closed-door proceedings. The chief justice
determines which decisions the Court will dis-
cuss in conferences where the justices choose the
cases they will accept for review. The chief jus-
tice also leads the private discussions on cases
recently argued. After presenting the facts and
issues in such a case and the relevant law, the
chief justice states her or his conclusions and
casts a vote. The discussion continues in order of
seniority, with each associate justice presenting
her or his views and vote.
If the chief justice is in the majority after
voting has concluded, he or she assigns the writ-
ing of the opinion in the case. This critical
responsibility provides the chief justice with an
important opportunity to influence the out-
come of the case, since he or she can assign the
case to a justice who he or she believes has simi-
lar views. The chief justice may also assign the
authorship of the opinion to himself or herself,
as many chief justices have done in cases involv-
ing far-reaching constitutional issues. If the
chief justice is not in the majority, the senior jus-
tice in the majority has the power of assignment.
The chief justice is also responsible for the
overall management of the Supreme Court,
including the oversight and supervision of the
Court’s clerks, marshal, reporter of decisions,
librarian, and other officers, and the handling of
various personnel management issues. The chief
justice estimates the Court’s budget and desig-
nates the officials to present it to the appropriate
congressional committees. Although the chief
justice is expected to avoid overt participation in
political activities, many have acted as public
advocates for the Court before Congress.
WILLIAM H. TAFT, the only chief justice to have
also served as president, actively promoted the
Judiciary Act of 1925. That landmark legislation,
designed to help the Court manage its large
backlog of cases, gave the Court almost unlim-
ited discretion to decide the cases it would
accept for review.WARREN E. BURGER, chief jus-
tice from 1969 to 1986, lobbied for the establish-
ment of a national court of appeals to help
alleviate the backlog of federal cases and actively
promoted other judicial reform proposals. In
1988, Rehnquist, appointed to succeed Burger,
was instrumental in the passage of the Judicial
Improvements and Access to Justice Act (Pub. L.
100-702, Nov. 19, 1988, 102 Stat. 4642), which
was intended to make the appeal process more
efficient by reducing the Supreme Court’s
mandatory appeal jurisdiction.
Another responsibility of the chief justice is
to oversee the administration of the entire federal
judiciary. In 1922, Congress established the
JUDICIAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED STATES,
the governing body for the administration of the
federal judicial system. As chair of the conference, the chief justice presides over the conference’s
biannual meeting, manages the agenda,
and appoints committees. The chief justice also
chairs the ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE OF THE U.S.
COURTS, created in 1939 during Taft’s term as
chief justice, and the FEDERAL JUDICIAL CENTER,
established in 1967 under Warren. Like the
Judicial Conference, these organizations are also
involved in the administration and management
of the federal judiciary with the chief justice
playing a major role in the selection of directors
and other personnel to run them.
Congress has also provided chief justices
with a number of duties not specially related to
the judiciary. The chief justice traditionally
serves as a member of the Board of Regents of
the Smithsonian Institution and sits on the
Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Art,
both located in Washington, D.C.
FURTHER READINGS
Congressional Quarterly. 1989. Guide to the U.S. Supreme
Court. 2d ed. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly.
Witt, Elder. 1993. The Supreme Court A to Z: A Ready
Reference Encyclopedia. Vol. 3 of the Encyclopedia of
American Government series. Washington, D.C.: Congressional
Quarterly.
