What happens when a petition for cert names 8 out of the 9 Justices?

October 11th, 2011

This!

10-10652 JOHNSON, JEFFREY L. V. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF U.S., ET AL. Because the Court lacks a quorum, 28 U.S.C. §1, and since the only qualified Justice is of the opinion that the case cannot be heard and determined at the next Term of the Court, the judgment is affirmed under 28 U.S.C. §2109, which provides that under these circumstances “the court shall enter its order affirming the judgment of the court from which the case was brought for review with the same effect as upon affirmance by an equally divided court.” The Chief Justice, Justice Scalia, Justice Kennedy, Justice Thomas, Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer, Justice Alito, and Justice Sotomayor took no part in the consideration or decision of this petition.

Check out all of the Defendants in the caption on this nutso case! Who isn’t there!

Barack H. Obama, President, Ronald W. Reagan, Former President, Deceased, George H.W. Bush, Former President, William J. Clinton, Former President, George W. Bush, Former President, William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice, Deceased, Clarence Thomas, Assoc. Justice, Ruth B. Ginsberg, Assoc. Justice, Antonia Scalia, Assoc. Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, Assoc. Justice, Retired, “Material Witness”, David H. Souter, Assoc. Justice, “Material Witness”, John Paul Stevens, Assoc. Justice, “Material Witness”, Sonia Sotomayor, Assoc. Justice, Anthony M. Kennedy, Assoc. Justice, Stephen G. Breyer, Assoc. Justice, Samuel Alito, Assoc. Justice, William K. Suter, Clerk, John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice, Edward L. Filippine, Senior Judge, Mary Ann L. Medler, Magistrate, “Material Witness”, Frederick R. Buckles, Magistrate, Charles A. Shaw, Dist. Judge, E. Richard Webber, Dist. Judge, Stephen Limbaugh, Jr., Dist. Judge, Jean C. Hamilton, Dist. Judge, Michael Gans, Clerk, Retired, James G. Woodward, Clerk, Katherine D. Perry, Chief Judge, Donald P. Lay, Former Chief Judge, Richard J. Leon, District Judge, Royce C. Lamberth, Chief Judge, Angela D. Caesar, Clerk, David B. Sentelle, Chief Judge, “Material Witness”, Mark J. Langer, Clerk, “Material Witness”, John D. Bates, Presiding Judge, “Material Witness”, H. Marshall Jarrett, Director, “Material Witness”, Glenn A. Fine, Inspector General (CIA), James C. Wright, Former Speaker, Thomas S. Foley, Former Speaker, Newton L. Gingrich, Former Speaker, Dennis Hastert, Former Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker, George Mitchell, Former Majority Leader, Tom Daschle, Former Majority Leader, Harry Reid, Majority Leader, Edwin Meese, III, Former Attorney General, Richard Thornburgh, Former Attorney General, (Dick), William Barr, Former Attorney General, Janet Reno, Former Attorney General, John D. Ashcroft, Former Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, Former Attorney General, Michael B. Mukasey, Former Attorney General, Eric Holder, Attorney General, Kenneth W. Starr, Former Solicitor General, “Material Witness”, Neal Katyal, Acting Solicitor General, “Material Witness”, Lanny Breuer, Former Acting Asst. Deputy Attorney General, Thomas E. Perez, C/O Asst. Deputy Attorney General, William H. Webster, Former Director, Robert Gates, Former Director, R. James Woolsey, Jr., Former Director, John M. Deutch, Former Director, George J. Tenet, Former Director, Porter Goss, Former Director, Leon Panetta, Director, William Sessions, Former Director, Louis Freeh, Former Director, Robert Mueller, Director, Leonidas Ralph Mecham, Former Director, James C. Duff, Director, William Odom, Former Director, LTG., William Studeman, Former Director, VADM., John M. McConnell, Former Director, VADM., Kenneth Minihan, Former Director, LTG., Michael Hayden, Former Director, LTG., Gen. Keith B. Alexander, Director, Dennis Blair, Former Director, Adm., James R. Clapper, Director, Lt. Gen., Frank C. Carlucci, III, Former Secretary, Richard B. Cheney, Former Secretary, Leslie Aspin, Former Secretary, William J. Perry, Former Secretary, William S. Cohen, Former Secretary, Donald H. Runsfeld, Former Secretary, Robert Gates, Secretary, Anthony M. Franks, Former Postmaster General, John E. Potter, Postmaster General, “Material Witness”, William G. Stewart, II, Asst. Director, “Material Witness”, Richard G. Callahan, U.S. Attorney, Jane Rund, U.S. Attorney, Karen Schroeder, U.S. Attorney, R. Craig Lawrence, U.S. Attorney, Rebecca Burke, U.S. Attorney, Sandra Moore, U.S. Attorney, William A. Fauks, Edward L. Dowd, Jr., Former U.S. Attorney, Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner, Kristi Schmidt, Chief Counsel, Sean Stewart, Asst. Regional Counsel, Patrick J. Herbst, “Material Witness”, Eve M. Riley, Adm. Law Judge, “Material Witness”, J. Pappenfus, Adm. Law Judge, James E. Seiler, Adm. Law Judge, Gabriel E. Depass, Appeals Council Judge, Julia D. Gibbs, Appeals Council Judge, Unknown Colbert, SSA, S. Atkinson, Dist. Manager, John D. Ashcroft, Former Governor, Mel Carnahan, Former Governor, Roger Wilson, Former Governor, Bob Holden, Former Governor, Matt Blunt, Former Governor, Jeremiah W. Nixon, Governor, William L. Webster, Former Attorney General, Stephen David Hawke, Attorney and Chris Koster, Attorney General

Fortunately Justice Kagan was not named so she is the only one who could consider the case!

Now what would’ve happened if all 9 Justices were named?