Bartlet and Chief Justice Ashland in “Separation of Powers”

Bartlet

I'm glad to see you doing so well, sir.

Are you?

Bartlet

Yes, I am.

Can you do it?

Bartlet

I don't want to. But if it's time, if your condition warrants.

Who'd you get to replace me?

Bartlet

I'd hoped to consult with you.

Holmes.

Bartlet

Holmes?

Oliver Wendell. Marshall, John or Thurgood, either one. I want Brandeis, Blackmun, Douglas. But you can't get them, can you? Because it's all compromises now, the ones who have no record of scholarship, no body of opinions, nothing you can hold them to, that's who they'll confirm, raging mediocrities.

Bartlet

The other eight are preparing to take it away from you, Roy. Holding over cases, the major decisions. How long can the country wait?

My clerks are preparing a brief. There's an Arab-American man, grabbed out of a line at the airport. What's next? Tribunals, identity cards, bar codes tattooed on our forearms?

Bartlet

Then give me a name.

Daniel Robenov, New York State Supreme Court. Susan Bengaly, Ninth Circuit. [shakes his finger at Bartlet] But they won't confirm them, will they? I have good days, and bad. But on my worst day, I am better than the ambulance chasers you can get confirmed by the Senate. You can't do it, Jed. You're not strong enough. The Speaker's running the table. And I can't take a chance.