TedTest

From the Ted Talk by Peter Paccone: How do US Supreme Court justices get appointed?

Unscramble the Blue Letters

There's a job out there with a great deal of power, pay, prestige, and near-perfect job security. And there's only one way to be hired: get aieppnotd to the US Supreme cruot. If you want to become a justice on the Supreme Court, the highest federal court in the utiend sattes, three things have to happen. You have to be nominated by the president of the United States, your nnmiaioton needs to be approved by the Senate, and finally, the president must frmlolay appoint you to the court. Because the Constitution doesn't specify any qualifications, in other words, that there's no age, education, profession, or even native-born citizenship requirement, a president can nominate any individual to serve. So far, six justices have been foreign-born, at least one never graduated from high school, and another was only 32 years old when he joined the bench. Most presidents nominate individuals who broadly share their ideological view, so a president with a liberal ideology will tend to appoint lbraiels to the court. Of course, a justice's leanings are not always so predictable. For example, when President Eisenhower, a Republican, nominated Earl Warren for Chief Justice, Eisenhower expected him to make ciaroetnvsve dceionsis. Instead, Warren's judgements have gone down as some of the most lreibal in the Court's history. Eisenhower later remarked on that appointment as "the biggest damned-fool mistake" he ever made. Many other fatrcos come up for consideration, as well, including experience, personal laityeols, ethnicity, and gender. The candidates are then thoroughly vetted down to their tax records and peytnams to domestic help. Once the president interviews the candidate and makes a formal nomination announcement, the stneae leadership traditionally tnrus the nomination over to hearings by the Senate jauircidy ctemtimoe. dipendeng on the contentiousness of the choice, that can stretch over many days. Since the Nixon administration, these hearings have agaerevd 60 days. The nominee is interviewed about their law record, if applicable, and where they stand on key isseus to discern how they might vote. And especially in more recent history, the committee tries to unearth any dark secrets or past indiscretions. The Judiciary Committee votes to send the nomination to the full Senate with a positive or negative recommendation, often rlfevciete of political leanings, or no recommendation at all. Most rejections have happened when the Senate mjrtoiay has been a different political party than the president. When the Senate does aopvrpe, it's by a simple majority vote, with ties broken by the vice president. With the Senate's consent, the president issues a wrtetin appointment, allowing the nominee to complete the final steps to take the cttoonainuistl and judicial oaths. In doing so, they solemnly swear to administer justice without respect to persons and do equal right to the poor and the rich and faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the dtieus incumbent upon a US Supreme Court jutscie. This job is for life, barring resignation, retirement, or removal from the court by impeachment. And of the 112 justices who have held the position, not one has yet been removed from office as a result of an icemhaempnt. One of their roles is to protect the fundamental rights of all arcaeimns, even as different parties take power. With the tmoeudners impact of this riseinliobstpy, it's no wonder that a US Supreme Court justice is eetcxepd to be, in the words of Irving R. Kaufman, "a pargoan of virtue, an intellectual Titan, and an administrative wazrid." Of course, not every member of the Court turns out to be an exemplar of justice. Each lvaees behind a legacy of decisions and opinions to be debated and deseitscd by the ultimtae judges, time and history.

Open Cloze

There's a job out there with a great deal of power, pay, prestige, and near-perfect job security. And there's only one way to be hired: get _________ to the US Supreme _____. If you want to become a justice on the Supreme Court, the highest federal court in the ______ ______, three things have to happen. You have to be nominated by the president of the United States, your __________ needs to be approved by the Senate, and finally, the president must ________ appoint you to the court. Because the Constitution doesn't specify any qualifications, in other words, that there's no age, education, profession, or even native-born citizenship requirement, a president can nominate any individual to serve. So far, six justices have been foreign-born, at least one never graduated from high school, and another was only 32 years old when he joined the bench. Most presidents nominate individuals who broadly share their ideological view, so a president with a liberal ideology will tend to appoint ________ to the court. Of course, a justice's leanings are not always so predictable. For example, when President Eisenhower, a Republican, nominated Earl Warren for Chief Justice, Eisenhower expected him to make ____________ _________. Instead, Warren's judgements have gone down as some of the most _______ in the Court's history. Eisenhower later remarked on that appointment as "the biggest damned-fool mistake" he ever made. Many other _______ come up for consideration, as well, including experience, personal _________, ethnicity, and gender. The candidates are then thoroughly vetted down to their tax records and ________ to domestic help. Once the president interviews the candidate and makes a formal nomination announcement, the ______ leadership traditionally _____ the nomination over to hearings by the Senate _________ _________. _________ on the contentiousness of the choice, that can stretch over many days. Since the Nixon administration, these hearings have ________ 60 days. The nominee is interviewed about their law record, if applicable, and where they stand on key ______ to discern how they might vote. And especially in more recent history, the committee tries to unearth any dark secrets or past indiscretions. The Judiciary Committee votes to send the nomination to the full Senate with a positive or negative recommendation, often __________ of political leanings, or no recommendation at all. Most rejections have happened when the Senate ________ has been a different political party than the president. When the Senate does _______, it's by a simple majority vote, with ties broken by the vice president. With the Senate's consent, the president issues a _______ appointment, allowing the nominee to complete the final steps to take the ______________ and judicial oaths. In doing so, they solemnly swear to administer justice without respect to persons and do equal right to the poor and the rich and faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the ______ incumbent upon a US Supreme Court _______. This job is for life, barring resignation, retirement, or removal from the court by impeachment. And of the 112 justices who have held the position, not one has yet been removed from office as a result of an ___________. One of their roles is to protect the fundamental rights of all _________, even as different parties take power. With the __________ impact of this ______________, it's no wonder that a US Supreme Court justice is ________ to be, in the words of Irving R. Kaufman, "a _______ of virtue, an intellectual Titan, and an administrative ______." Of course, not every member of the Court turns out to be an exemplar of justice. Each ______ behind a legacy of decisions and opinions to be debated and _________ by the ________ judges, time and history.

Solution

majority
responsibility
issues
payments
constitutional
wizard
conservative
united
states
approve
nomination
averaged
formally
factors
decisions
dissected
impeachment
justice
ultimate
court
liberals
depending
loyalties
written
duties
senate
tremendous
judiciary
leaves
committee
reflective
paragon
turns
liberal
expected
americans
appointed

Original Text

There's a job out there with a great deal of power, pay, prestige, and near-perfect job security. And there's only one way to be hired: get appointed to the US Supreme Court. If you want to become a justice on the Supreme Court, the highest federal court in the United States, three things have to happen. You have to be nominated by the president of the United States, your nomination needs to be approved by the Senate, and finally, the president must formally appoint you to the court. Because the Constitution doesn't specify any qualifications, in other words, that there's no age, education, profession, or even native-born citizenship requirement, a president can nominate any individual to serve. So far, six justices have been foreign-born, at least one never graduated from high school, and another was only 32 years old when he joined the bench. Most presidents nominate individuals who broadly share their ideological view, so a president with a liberal ideology will tend to appoint liberals to the court. Of course, a justice's leanings are not always so predictable. For example, when President Eisenhower, a Republican, nominated Earl Warren for Chief Justice, Eisenhower expected him to make conservative decisions. Instead, Warren's judgements have gone down as some of the most liberal in the Court's history. Eisenhower later remarked on that appointment as "the biggest damned-fool mistake" he ever made. Many other factors come up for consideration, as well, including experience, personal loyalties, ethnicity, and gender. The candidates are then thoroughly vetted down to their tax records and payments to domestic help. Once the president interviews the candidate and makes a formal nomination announcement, the Senate leadership traditionally turns the nomination over to hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Depending on the contentiousness of the choice, that can stretch over many days. Since the Nixon administration, these hearings have averaged 60 days. The nominee is interviewed about their law record, if applicable, and where they stand on key issues to discern how they might vote. And especially in more recent history, the committee tries to unearth any dark secrets or past indiscretions. The Judiciary Committee votes to send the nomination to the full Senate with a positive or negative recommendation, often reflective of political leanings, or no recommendation at all. Most rejections have happened when the Senate majority has been a different political party than the president. When the Senate does approve, it's by a simple majority vote, with ties broken by the vice president. With the Senate's consent, the president issues a written appointment, allowing the nominee to complete the final steps to take the constitutional and judicial oaths. In doing so, they solemnly swear to administer justice without respect to persons and do equal right to the poor and the rich and faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon a US Supreme Court justice. This job is for life, barring resignation, retirement, or removal from the court by impeachment. And of the 112 justices who have held the position, not one has yet been removed from office as a result of an impeachment. One of their roles is to protect the fundamental rights of all Americans, even as different parties take power. With the tremendous impact of this responsibility, it's no wonder that a US Supreme Court justice is expected to be, in the words of Irving R. Kaufman, "a paragon of virtue, an intellectual Titan, and an administrative wizard." Of course, not every member of the Court turns out to be an exemplar of justice. Each leaves behind a legacy of decisions and opinions to be debated and dissected by the ultimate judges, time and history.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations

ngrams of length 2

collocation	frequency
supreme court	3
judiciary committee	2
court justice	2

ngrams of length 3

collocation	frequency
supreme court justice	2

Important Words

administer
administration
administrative
age
allowing
americans
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applicable
appoint
appointed
appointment
approve
approved
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barring
bench
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oaths
office
opinions
paragon
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party
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perform
personal
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political
poor
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positive
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predictable
president
presidents
prestige
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protect
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recommendation
record
records
reflective
rejections
remarked
removal
removed
republican
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resignation
respect
responsibility
result
retirement
rich
rights
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school
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security
senate
send
serve
share
simple
solemnly
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