Three US Supreme Court justices died between 2000 and 2010.
Deceased
Byron White....................1962-1993...........Kennedy.....(d. 2002)
Harry Blackmun...............1970-1994...........Nixon.........(d. 1999)
William H. Rehnquist (CJ)..1972-2005...........Nixon.........(d. 2005) (Reagan elevated to Chief Justice, 1986)
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No. It only depends on how many supreme court justices leave office during the Presidents term. For example, if all of them died and/or decided to retire, the president would have the opportunity to appoint the entire bench.
The Federalist-dominated Congress set the size of the US Supreme Court at five (by attrition) in the Judiciary Act of 1801 in order to prevent incoming Democratic-Republican President Thomas Jefferson from influencing the Court's decisions by nominating members of his party to any potential vacancies. The newly elected Congress repealed the legislation, returning the number of justices to six before any changes occurred. Not counting temporary vacancies, the fewest authorized members of the Court was six.Congress increased the size of the Court in the Tenth Circuit Act of 1863 from 9 to 10, where it remained for three years, before dropping to seven justices in the Judiciary Act of 1866. This action was taken in order to prevent President Andrew Johnson from naming any justices to the Court. The legislation eliminated a vacancy created by the death of William Catron, which reduced the number of justices from 10 to 9. When Justice James Moore Wayne died in 1867, the size of the Court was briefly reduced to 8 members, but never reached the 7 targeted by Congress.According to legislation, the Supreme Court ranged in size from five to ten justices; in reality, there were never fewer than six justices, and the full complement of ten justices sat for only one week, in December 1863, due to illness and subsequent vacancies.For more information, see Related Questions, below.
Because the supreme court has a lot of power. Their rulings can set government policies, can nullify laws. In addition supreme court justices are nominated for life, so they keep this powers for years, possible decades. This power is derived from the deliberate vagueness of the Constitution (example: what is torture? is the right of the mother to protect her body higher than the right to life of the unborn child?) The Court of Justice plays a major role in abortion, single sex marriage and other high profile situations. At this moment the majority of the judges are nominated by republic presidents (conservatives?), if Obama nominates more liberal judges this can actually result in a major change in the American society.
Oh, dude, let me drop some knowledge on you. So, there are actually six US Presidents who didn't appoint a justice to the Supreme Court. Those lucky fellas are William Henry Harrison, Zachary Taylor, Andrew Johnson, Jimmy Carter, and - brace yourself - Joe Biden. Looks like they missed out on that fun task, huh?
Chief Justice of the United States (Supreme Court) John G. Roberts, Jr., was nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate after former Chief Justice William Rehnquist died in 2005. Article III judges, which includes US Supreme Court justices, are always nominated by the President and approved or rejected by the Senate. For more information, see Related Questions, below.