If an opening exists on the Supreme Court, who is responsible for nominating a new justice?
113713
Justices serve for Life and are nominated by the President. Every President will have a short list at hand and the prospective candidate is screened by the FBI.\nThe Senate approves or rejects the nominee, who is then sworn in usually by the senior most Justice.
720965
Supreme Court justices have lifetime appointments so that they  can be free from politics in making their decisions. If they had to be reappointed every few years, they might be influenced by a desire to please the people with the power to approve the reappointment instead of making their decisions on a case solely on their honest interpretation of the Constitution. It is all part of the checks & balances system set up by our Founding Fathers.
339456
It is the responsibility of the Court to interpret the Constitution as they feel it most appropriately applies to any case.  There are varied thoughts on whether they should act as they feel the framers meant the Constitution to work or whether modern day interpretations are best.
578726
The Supreme Court, I believe. If not, it could be a federal court of some sort.
762823
I believe so.   But the U.S. Supreme Court believes otherwise.  So, who you gonna listen to?
474998
It depends on the judge.
61657
And what's so interesting about that? All the currently seated Supreme Court justices had enough votes for confirmation. That's the way it works.
1168966
absolutely. If "none of the above" gets the most votes, the whole process starts over with 2 new candidates. That would be awesome. Never happen though...
400352
The President would nominate the replacement, and the replacement would have to be confirmed by the Senate.  (This happened when Nixon nominated Ford to replace Spiro Agnew.  Ford, incidentally, became the first President to never be elected either President or Vice President.)
810803
executive (president), legislative (congress), judicial (supreme court).
85645
The short answer is that John Roberts is the new Chief Justice of the United States.\n\nThe long answer?  John Roberts was originally nominated to replace retiring Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.  When Rehnquist died in office, the President changed Roberts' nomination papers to fill Rehnquist's seat instead.  The President then nominated Harriet Miers (who would withdraw) and Samuel Alito to the remaining seat.
1187703
A very good question!  Actually, that is about it, but local judges are voted into office by the people not assigned by a governor.
820122
Yes, it is important, The U.S. Supreme Justices when they retire or leave or die are apponted by the President, how do you think John Roberts and Samuel Alito became Supreme Court Justices?\nYes , the president does have power in this area when it involves the appointment of Supreme court justices
813956
Yes, the Senate.  The constitutional says the executive appoints with the "advice and consent" of the senate.  In the good 'ol days the Senate was not popularly elected but was appointed by the state legislatures (2 from each state--sort of like the House of Lords in the English system).  In any event the idea was to better insulate the judiciary from the will of the "masses" because the Founding Fathers knew that the courts would be called upon to protect the interests of minority groups and to make unpopular decisions.  They were smart guys.
553496
None! The Constitution has no provisions on the matter. As to previous poster your refering to the rule for Senators & President. Not the Justices....
795443
yup. \nThe Supreme Court IS the judicial branch.
99540
Both can be elected or appointed.