The United States Supreme Court will have to conduct proceedings with one empty chair for a while.

South Dakota Senator Mike Rounds expects a new justice to replace Antonin Scalia after the November election. Rounds admits the process is somewhat stalled by politics.

“Based upon the ideological differences between the Senate and the President the chances of the President actually nominating someone who would be acceptable to the Senate are slim and none. We’re prepared to deal with it with the next President once they get a mandate by being elected by the people of this country.”

Another dose of reality according to Rounds is the amount of time the nominating process would actually take.

“Even if this President were to actually nominate someone you would not have action on the nominee until probably into October or November. It takes that long in any process to actually come to a conclusion.”

Having decisions with less than nine Supreme Court Justices is not uncommon. Rounds reveals that a couple of recent appointees had to recuse themselves because of their previous work on cases that were eventually heard by the Court.*

If a Supreme Court decision is rendered in a four-four tie, the decision is considered upheld only in the circuit that brought the case, but is not binding on a nationwide basis.


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