Did you know John Roberts is also chief justice of the NSA’s surveillance state?

Re:Did you know John Roberts is also chief justice of the NS... by anigbrowl on Friday July 05, 2013 @07:53PM (#5997264)

Not exclusive because 8 other justices have equivalent authority on that ground.

No they don't. The Chief Justice has additional powers, such as assigning the task of writing the opinion and administering the Court system. His rule includes more than simply deciding cases.

By contrast the appointment authority is a lifetime, exclusive power that he does not have to justify to anybody.

Ben, this is simply not true. He holds those powers at the pleasure of Congress, in contrast to his powers as a Supreme Court justice.

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Re:Did you know John Roberts is also chief justice of the NS... by btilly on Friday July 05, 2013 @09:27PM (#5997537)

His additional responsibilities/powers do not alter the fact that when it comes to actually deciding cases, his is one vote among 9 equal ones.

As for "lifetime, exclusive power", I think that an implicit qualifier of "under the normal course of affairs" is understood. Of course there are possibilities such as impeachment (yes, the members of the Supreme Court CAN be impeached), voluntary retirement, and change of laws. However there is no particular reason to expect it not to be for his lifetime.

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