united-states us-supreme-court us-president
Could a President choose to give an existing SCOTUS Justice two votes when he would ordinarily appoint another justice?
<p>Could a President actually give a current Supreme Court Justice two votes when another justice died or resigned, as described in <a href="https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-decides-to-just-give-clarence-thomas-two-votes" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this Babylon Bee article</a>, except with the consent of the Senate (that article implies that Trump gave Justice Thomas two votes without a Senate confirmation in)?</p>
<p>UPDATE: I know the article is satire.</p>

<p>First of all, as noted in the comments, Babylon Bee is SATIRE.  It's not intended to be news, just entertainment.</p>
<p>But the real question is whether or not a President COULD do such a thing.  Or perhaps better, could a President attempt to do something like this.</p>
<p>If a President did attempt to do this, it would be totally without precedent and also without any constitutional authority.  Since the US Constitution enumerates the powers between the branches and gives the President only the authority to appoint, with the advice of the Senate, a SCOTUS justice, trying to change things by giving an existing justice 2 votes would almost certainly be immediately challenged by the Senate.  It also seems unlikely that such an action would be upheld as constitutional.</p>
<p>Of course this is all speculative since nothing of this nature has happened.</p>
