September 13, 2005
Chief Justice of What? Posted by John Steele Gordon at 08:45 AM EST As the term is likely to be heard more often than usual in the next few weeks, as Judge John Roberts goes through his confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, it might be pointed out that there is a subtle difference between the titles of Chief Justice and the other members of the Supreme Court. Already several TV news programs have got it wrong. The associate justices are properly called "Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States." But the Chief Justice is simply "Chief Justice of the United States." The office of Chief Justice is actually named in the Constitution, although not, curiously, in Article III, which establishes the Judicial Branch, but in Article I, Section 3, which requires that impeachment trials of the President in the Senate shall be presided over by the Chief Justice. Other than a fancier title, however, the Chief Justice is basically only primus inter pares, first among equals. He receives a slightly higher salary and, I imagine, has slightly fancier chambers, presides over the weekly conferences in which cases are decided, and assigns the task of writing the opinion if he is in the majority (otherwise the senior associate justice in the majority does so). He also functions as the chief administrator of the federal judiciary. But like the eight associate justices, he has but one vote.
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