The USSC decides legal issues.
They do not ‘pick’ the president.
I thought a SC tie means the lower court ruling stands.
The House would select POTUS
There no doubt will be legal issues that will have to be settled. 4-4 is just a recipe for disaster.
Contested elections are at the state level. If a state lets it drag on for too long, there are one of two possibilities:
There is nothing for a court to do. The Electors will either be there or not; the Electoral College will Constitutionally function with or without them.
In Florida in 2000, the election hadn't progressed to the contested part because the results weren't certified when SCOTUS stepped in to stop the unconstitutional partial recount. The Florida legislature was ready to intervene with option #1 above when the court stopped the recount.
-PJ
In general when the Supreme Court cannot come to a decision, the lower court’s ruling stands..
Here's How The Supreme Court Will Function With Eight Justices Leading Up To The Election, by Zoe Tillman, BuzzFeed News, September 18, 2020.
In summary, it says the court will try hard to avoid a tie, that there are five conservative justices and three liberal justices, but Roberts isn't always a reliable conservative vote. In ordinary cases, they can postpone a decision until the ninth justice is seated. But it dodges the central question.
One particular item of note: "...there are more than 300 election-related cases pending in state and federal courts."
I wouldn’t assume that whoever Trump appoints, if someone ends up getting appointed, will automatically rule in favor of Trump including in election matters. We have seen cases where Trump judges go out of their way to show how “unbiased” they are. That could well be the case with the newest justice too, especially if she goes through an acrimonious process.
One thing is sure - one sees almost no talk of a “Trump landslide” any more. It seems this board in 2020 is more sober-minded and realistic of Trump’s chances than it was in 2008 of McCain’s chances.
Oh, this won’t happen! After all, the GOP has made the majority of the appointments of the sitting justices - starting with that stalwart of conservative readings of our Constitution, Chief Justice Roberts.
At this early point, It looks like The President will nominate someone who can get appointed quickly, someone who has recently been appointed to a federal position by this same senate, for instance, and any republican senator who will not vote the same way will be in fact trying to throw this nation-saving election to the despotic Harris and company. That would be a spot too tough to get out of for the perpetual Trump-underestimating Romney
Another obvious point to consider is Trump is not a wimpy republican. He will not in any way attempt to appease the left. He will nominate someone this week.
If it’s 4-4, then Al Gore becomes acting president.
President Trump is still the President until the next President is installed.
Neither.
Grassley, Pres Pro Tiem.
If the situation gets that messed up we handle it with mud wrestling.
If Supreme Court does not have 9 Judges, then it goes to the House of Representatives.
In other words Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats will give it to Biden.
This is why it is so paramount to get a new Supreme Court Justice.
The Democrats know this.
That’s why we must fill the seat before the election.
It goes to the House for final decision if neither candidate gets 270.
Jeez...can we stop with the drama queen vanities?
“We” are not going to do anything. Pelosi not going to be President.
I know there is not much going on in people’s lives, but for goodness sake, we should spend more time thinking about actually doing some research and reading before posting shit like this.