Chief Justice Case Study
Like the associate justices, the Chief Justice is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. There is no requirement that the Chief Justice must serve as an Associate Justice before being appointed to Chief Justice, but 5 of the 17 Chief Justices have served on the Court as Associate Justices prior to becoming Chief Justice. The first job of a Supreme Court justice is to decide what cases should be considered or appointed by the court. This is done by determining whether or not the proposed cases contain questions of constitutional violations or actions against the US. Almost all cases that come before Supreme Court justices are appeals, the cases were decided in lower courts, but one party was unhappy with the decision.