Supreme Court Starts Term With Case on the Politics of Judging

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court, awaiting the result of a partisan confirmation battle, opened its new term on Monday with a fitting argument on the impact of politics on judicial appointments.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. opened the session, which took place by telephone in light of the coronavirus pandemic, with a tribute to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last month. “We at the court will remember her as a dear friend and a treasured colleague,” he said.

In the argument that followed, the eight remaining justices considered whether states may take account of the political affiliations of judges to try to achieve something like ideological balance on their courts.

The case concerned Delaware, whose court system is both widely admired and idiosyncratic.

The state’s Constitution includes two unusual provisions. One says that judges affiliated with any one political party cannot make up more than a bare majority of the state’s five main courts. The other says that only judges affiliated with one of the two major parties may sit on the Delaware Supreme Court and two other courts.