What if Justice Potter Stewart decides he wants to "spend more time with his grandchildren" two years earlier and retires from the court in June of 1979. At that time Ted Kennedy was considering running against Carter in 1980 and was leading Carter in the polls by double digits. What if Carter decides that a good way to avoid facing Kennedy in the primaries is to nominate Kennedy to the Supreme Court. Kennedy being head of the the judiciary committee would be certain to be confirmed by his senate colleagues. Would a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land be enough to convince Kennedy to not run for president?
Would Kennedy accept Carter's offer? Would Kennedy want to leave the senate (he knew even if he lost the nomination to Carter in 1980 he'd still be able to return to the senate)? If he did become Justice Ted Kennedy what would the senate be like for the next 30 years without him? What would the court be like for the following 30 years with Kennedy? Would Kennedy eventually become disillusioned with the court? Would he feel stuck there for the 12 years of Reagan/Bush not wanting them to choose his successor if he resigned to run for senate again? Would he resign once Clinton became president or would he as a justice have ran against Bush in 1988?
It would have been difficult for Kennedy to turn the job down. I mean even if he did beat Carter and Reagan he could have only been president for 8 years max (many think he didn't really want to be POTUS anyway). But a seat on the Supreme Court would be lifetime appointment and he was 47 years old at the time. And he wouldn't have to keep running for re-election like he did in the senate.
Would Kennedy accept Carter's offer? Would Kennedy want to leave the senate (he knew even if he lost the nomination to Carter in 1980 he'd still be able to return to the senate)? If he did become Justice Ted Kennedy what would the senate be like for the next 30 years without him? What would the court be like for the following 30 years with Kennedy? Would Kennedy eventually become disillusioned with the court? Would he feel stuck there for the 12 years of Reagan/Bush not wanting them to choose his successor if he resigned to run for senate again? Would he resign once Clinton became president or would he as a justice have ran against Bush in 1988?
It would have been difficult for Kennedy to turn the job down. I mean even if he did beat Carter and Reagan he could have only been president for 8 years max (many think he didn't really want to be POTUS anyway). But a seat on the Supreme Court would be lifetime appointment and he was 47 years old at the time. And he wouldn't have to keep running for re-election like he did in the senate.
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