--- title: How the Next Supreme Court Justice Will Be Chosen description: Justice Antonin Scalia's death leaves a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court canonical: https://time.com/4220701/justice-scalia-death-supreme-court-replacement/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-13T23:27:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:31.471Z article:section: Politics og:title: How the Next Supreme Court Justice Will Be Chosen og:description: Justice Antonin Scalia's death leaves a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court og:url: https://time.com/4220701/justice-scalia-death-supreme-court-replacement/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f1e026d639a6b48/69887d98bc6cfc6feb3dbbb3/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2902 og:image:height: 1632 og:image:alt: Antonin Scalia, Warren Burger og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: How the Next Supreme Court Justice Will Be Chosen twitter:description: Justice Antonin Scalia's death leaves a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f1e026d639a6b48/69887d98bc6cfc6feb3dbbb3/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How the Next Supreme Court Justice Will Be Chosen > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 13, 2016 11:27 PM UTC  In this Sept. 26, 1986 file photo, retiring Chief Justice Warren Burger, right, administers an oath to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, as Scalia's wife, Maureen, holds the bible during ceremonies in the East Room of White House, Washington. In this Sept. 26, 1986 file photo, retiring Chief Justice Warren Burger, right, administers an oath to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, as Scalia's wife, Maureen, holds the bible during ceremonies in the East Room of White House, Washington. Charles Tasnadi—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Feb 13, 2016 11:27 PM UTC With the [sudden death](http://time.com/4220662/justice-antonin-scalia-dead-at-79/) of Supreme Court Justice [Antonin Scalia](http://time.com/4220692/antonin-scalia-biography/) at 79, the process will soon begin to [replace the conservative Reagan appointee](http://time.com/4220717/antonin-scalia-dead-replacement-mcconnell/). The President and the [U.S. Senate](http://time.com/4220671/justice-antonin-scalia-death-reactions/) share the responsibility of appointing nominees. President Obama has successfully appointed two justices to the supreme court since taking office, Justice Sonia Sotomayor in 2009 and Justice Elena Kagan in 2010\. He may choose to appoint one more before he leaves office in 2017, though whosoever he chooses will likely face a tough test in the Republican-controlled Senate. Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell says the Supreme Court vacancy left by Scalia should not be filled until there is a new president, according to the Associated Press. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4220701/justice-scalia-death-supreme-court-replacement/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4220701/justice-scalia-death-supreme-court-replacement/"},"headline":"How the Next Supreme Court Justice Will Be Chosen","datePublished":"2016-02-13T23:27:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:31.471Z","description":"Justice Antonin Scalia's death leaves a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court","url":"https://time.com/4220701/justice-scalia-death-supreme-court-replacement/","keywords":["Barack Obama","justice","Antonin Scalia"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f1e026d639a6b48/69887d98bc6cfc6feb3dbbb3/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7f1e026d639a6b48/69887d98bc6cfc6feb3dbbb3/antonin-scalia-dead-supreme-court-justice-09.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Antonin Scalia, Warren Burger","caption":"In this Sept. 26, 1986 file photo, retiring Chief Justice Warren Burger, right, administers an oath to Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, as Scalia's wife, Maureen, holds the bible during ceremonies in the East Room of White House, Washington.","creditText":"Charles Tasnadi—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4220701/justice-scalia-death-supreme-court-replacement/","name":"How the Next Supreme Court Justice Will Be Chosen"}}]}] ```