Alito takes oath, now a Justice
on Jan 31, 2006 at 1:03 pm
(9 P.M. UPDATE: Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., made his first public appearance in robes as a member of the Supreme Court Tuesday evening, showing up to observe the State of the Union message of President Bush. With him were Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. — it was his first appearance at this event, too — along with Justices Clarence Thomas and Stephen G. Breyer. Last year, Breyer was the only Justice to attend. The four members of the Court took seats at the front of the House chamber, accompanied by two Court aides, Clerk William K. Suter and Marshal Pamela Talkin.)
(UPDATE: In early evening, the Supreme Court issued its first significant order since Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr., joined its ranks, but he did not take part. It was an order delaying the execution in Florida of Arthur Rutherford, pending action on a new newly filed appeal. Rutherford’s appeal (05-8895) raises the same issue that the Court had just agreed to hear in another Florida case last Wednesday– whether a death row inmate may file a civil rights lawsuit to challenge the method of execution by lethal injection. The granted appeal of Clarence E. Hill (05-8794) involves his claim that the method causes undue pain and thus amounts to cruel and unusual punishment under the Eighth Amendment. Justice Alito obviously did not have time to review the papers on the stay issues raised by Rutherford’s lawyers. The inmate had been due to be executed at 6 p.m. Tuesday His stay application was 05-A-692.)
At 12:40 p.m. Tuesday, Samuel A. Alito, Jr., took the oaths of office as the 110th Justice of the Supreme Court, in a private ceremony attended by some members of the Supreme Court, and by his wife. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., administered the two oaths — a constitutional oath and a judicialoath — in the Justices’ Conference Room.
In a statement, Supreme Court public information officer Kathleen L. Arberg said “both oaths were administered so that Justice Alito could begin to participate in the work of the Court immediately.”
She said that a formal investiure ceremony “will take place at a special sitting of the Court n the Courtroom at a later date.” No details of that event, including the actual date, were available Tuesday.
The fact that the investiture will be at “a special sitting” indicates that the Court will not wait for its next scheduled public session for that event. The Justices currently are in recess, and will not return to the bench until Tuesday, Feb. 21. Alito will attend his first scheduled Conference, the Justices’ private conclave on pending business, on Friday, Feb. 17.
In the meantime, the Court will begin figuring out what it will do with already-argued cases on which Alito has not sat. Among the most likely options are, first, going ahead with decisions that are already in the drafting stages, without his participation, and, second, ordering cases to be reargued — either later this Term, or in the Term that begins on Monday, Oct. 2, with his participation. If the Court is divided 4-4 on any case already under submission, it would have the option of announcing that result — a split vote that simply upholds the lower court ruling at issue, without an opinion by the Justices and without seeting any precedent — or else ordering reargument.
Because Alito is now a full-participating member of the Court, it may be an option for the Court to allow him to catch up on already-argued cases by reading the briefs, listening to sound recordings of oral argument, and taking part. That is not very likely, however, since he was not a member when the cases were submitted.
With Alito replacing now-retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the assignment of the Justices to handle emergency matters from the Federal Circuits will be reshuffled. As of Tuesday, the Court had no information on which slot would go to Alito, who has been a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Justice O’Connor has had the Ninth Circuit; Justice David H. Souter, the Third.
