I was wondering about the replacement of judges while they're still in office. For example, currently a judge from the DC circuit has announced he will be stepping down in some time. His replacement will soon see a senate vote.
In certain cases, such as with Judge Carnes on the Eleventh, his replacement was approved by the Senate while Carnes only announced his intention in October 2019 to take senior status "at a to-be-determined date", which could mean just any random moment in the future. As every judge will give up his seat someday at a to-be-determined date, this means basically nothing. Today Carnes has still not given up his seat.
To me, this raises the question whether the President is able to appoint new judges for vacancies that are not yet there. For example, could the President appoint a replacement for Ginsburg though she is not dead yet? And could he have the Senate approve the nominee?
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