The room shown is the conference room for the Justices. It's where they meet when it's only the nine of them (no clerks or other staff). Sounding each other out for votes, assigning cases, deciding whether or not to decide (that is, the Court doesn't accept a case to be heard unless four Justices or more vote it should be heard)... that sort of thing.
By tradition, the least senior Justice is who makes the coffee. Because it's been 11 years since Breyer came to the Court, that means he's been making the coffee the entire time.
Because Sandra Day O'Connor has resigned from the Supreme Court, that means somebody is going to replace her, even if we don't know who it is yet. (And even if it takes more than one try to get enough votes in the Senate to do so. :)
So, when that replacement comes along, they'll be most junior, and Breyer will move up one rung in seniority.
Aside from the question of who makes the coffee, seniority matters on the Court because it determines who gets to assign which Justice writes a particular opinion. If the Chief Justice is in the majority, they make the assignment; if the Chief is in the minority, the assignment task goes to the most senior Justice who is in the majority. (Usually Justice Stevens, though not always.)
This can have a very big impact because each Justice writes opinions in an individual enough way that one can strongly influence the nuts and bolts of the law by who writes the decision.
Breyer isn't likely to be in the position of making such assignments anytime soon, since even when the new Justice gets there, Breyer'll only be number 8 of 9 in seniority. But, he will be one step closer.
I'm not sure if I'm being clear enough here, but if you have any questions, I'm more than happy to try to answer.
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timeasmymeasure
Coffee
Date: 2005-07-02 08:00 am (UTC)The room shown is the conference room for the Justices. It's where they meet when it's only the nine of them (no clerks or other staff). Sounding each other out for votes, assigning cases, deciding whether or not to decide (that is, the Court doesn't accept a case to be heard unless four Justices or more vote it should be heard)... that sort of thing.
By tradition, the least senior Justice is who makes the coffee. Because it's been 11 years since Breyer came to the Court, that means he's been making the coffee the entire time.
Re: Coffee
Date: 2005-07-02 08:09 am (UTC)Because Sandra Day O'Connor has resigned from the Supreme Court, that means somebody is going to replace her, even if we don't know who it is yet. (And even if it takes more than one try to get enough votes in the Senate to do so. :)
So, when that replacement comes along, they'll be most junior, and Breyer will move up one rung in seniority.
Aside from the question of who makes the coffee, seniority matters on the Court because it determines who gets to assign which Justice writes a particular opinion. If the Chief Justice is in the majority, they make the assignment; if the Chief is in the minority, the assignment task goes to the most senior Justice who is in the majority. (Usually Justice Stevens, though not always.)
This can have a very big impact because each Justice writes opinions in an individual enough way that one can strongly influence the nuts and bolts of the law by who writes the decision.
Breyer isn't likely to be in the position of making such assignments anytime soon, since even when the new Justice gets there, Breyer'll only be number 8 of 9 in seniority. But, he will be one step closer.
I'm not sure if I'm being clear enough here, but if you have any questions, I'm more than happy to try to answer.