The case of the missing supreme court justice

Pete (Mr. Marcia) · Post by **Pete (Mr. Marcia)** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:55 pm

CNN reported that only 8 of the 9 justices attended the inauguration today. Does anyone know which one did not attend and why? (This isn't a trivia question, I don't know the answer.)

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:13 pm

unclear if Alito was there or not
http://www.politicalbase.com/profile/Ma ... logId=5973

Pete (Mr. Marcia) · Post by **Pete (Mr. Marcia)** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:19 pm

Hmmmm...and Obama voted against Roberts' confirmation...and Roberts messed up the oath of office today. Coincidence? (In case you can't tell, I'm kidding...not about Obama opposing Roberts...the other part.)

Lulu76 · Post by **Lulu76** » Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:53 pm

They said that Roberts doesn't like to speak from notes, and he just flubbed up the words -- nothing sinister there. I thought it was kind of cute as scripted as everything was.

I hope that if someone missed that everything is OK and that it was not for a petty reason.

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:34 pm

The White House reported that the President took the oath again today, and they got it right this time. That is the third time that it was redone. I don't know which other ones were redone or why they needed to be redone.

JIM

mbw1024 · Post by **mbw1024** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:36 pm

third time in history? I didn't hear that.
yesterday everyone was saying he was President at noon (by the Constitution) regardless of the oath so now I'm guessing that isn't the case?

flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:01 pm

They are probably just covering all bases.

jmq · Post by **jmq** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:28 am

I guess taking the oath again would quell the drumbeat from FoxNews, who wasn't sure if he was really President or not.
It begs the question however, if Obama wasnt, then who was? A possible answer here:

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flip-flop · Post by **flip-flop** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:54 am

I heart Stephen Colbert. Almost as much as I heart Jon Stewart!

H-a-b-e-a-s c-o-r-p-u-s

Maryanne · Post by **Maryanne** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:04 am

The constitution declares that transfer of power happens with the oath-taking. The 20th amendment declares that transfer of power happens at noon.

They just wanted to cover all their bases, so that no one can question the legitimacy of the presidency.

I read about the oath re-do last night, but did not know another happened today. Don't know what was wrong with last night's.

Lulu76 · Post by **Lulu76** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 12:30 pm

I don't know of the other example of when it was redone, but I know that one was with Calvin Coolidge.

Coolidge became president when Garfield, I believe, was assasinated. His father who was a justice of the peace, administered the oath on the family Bible because it was so sudden. Later, Coolidge was afraid that one didn't count, so he had the Chief Justice swear him in at the White House. He was afraid he'd hurt his father's feelings, so apparently it was kept secret for some time.

I remember LBJ was sworn in in Dallas. I'm wondering if they redid that when he got to Washington, but I have no idea. That is just a guess.

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:10 pm

I think Garfield was in the 1880's and Coolidge in the 1920's. Did Coolidge succeed Harding?

One law prof told NPR that he became president at noon ---period. The oath is not some sort of Harry Potter spell that makes an ordinary man into a president.

Fox is just going through the grief process over losing the White House. This step is either "Barganing" or "Denial" I suppose.

JIM

Teddy Salad · Post by **Teddy Salad** » Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:33 pm

I believe Lulu is referring to Chester A. Arthur who succeeded Garfield and did in fact take the oath of office twice. Once in New York, where he was when Garfield died, and again in D. C. when he arrived there.

By the way, Arthur had no vice president.

jimg20 · Post by **jimg20** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:34 pm

Until the Nixon/Ford/Rockafeller administration none of them had a VP if they succeded the Pres or if something happened to the VP at least until the next election. I don't recall hearing of a VP vacancy except in the case of succession until Agnew resigned. He was replaced by Ford and Ford was replaced by Rockafeller becoming the only administration that was never elected to anything.

JIM

soxfan22 · Post by **soxfan22** » Mon Jan 26, 2009 2:37 pm

Lulu76 wrote:I don't know of the other example of when it was redone, but I know that one was with Calvin Coolidge.

Coolidge became president when Garfield, I believe, was assasinated. His father who was a justice of the peace, administered the oath on the family Bible because it was so sudden. Later, Coolidge was afraid that one didn't count, so he had the Chief Justice swear him in at the White House. He was afraid he'd hurt his father's feelings, so apparently it was kept secret for some time.

I remember LBJ was sworn in in Dallas. I'm wondering if they redid that when he got to Washington, but I have no idea. That is just a guess.

LBJ, I believe, was sworn in on the airplane back to DC. Not sure if the plane was on the ground in Dallas or not.

usvi-on-line

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The case of the missing supreme court justice

The case of the missing supreme court justice