The episode was met with mixed reception, although it was later noted the show bore similarities to the 2016 death and replacement of real-life Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.
In the current episode, the White House senior staff works to find a replacement for Brady, taking interviews with judges who are considered potential nominees to fill the seat.
Josh wants to put Lang on the court, but after she tells him and Toby that she had a legal abortion in law school, the senior staff argues that nominating her for the seat would be harmful to both her and the White House's public image.
Josh, inspired by the story, proposes a strategy to Toby; Lang will be nominated to be the first female Chief Justice, in exchange for offering the Senate Judiciary Committee the opportunity to select a conservative to fill Brady's seat.
Josh and Toby go to Roy Ashland to propose the idea, to which the Chief Justice laughingly tells them to go ahead, and "see what segregationist, anti-miscegenationist, Isaiah-quoting gay-bashing bastard they come up with."
Mulready is unimpressed by Bartlet's inclination to nominate Brad Shelton, quipping that "in the event that Carmine, Lafayette, Hoyte, Clark, and Brannigan all drop dead, the center will still be well tended."
In 2016, Brian Lowry with Variety likened the 2004 episode to the then-current controversy around the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and the nomination of Merrick Garland, citing it as an example of how a President and Senate of opposed parties could work out their differences.
"[3] However, she does praise the debate scene between Lang and Mulready, noting that both participants seemed to gain knowledge and insight from the conversation and comparing it to the friendship between Scalia and fellow Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.