Evolution of the Senate's Role in the Nomination and Confirmation Process
Evolution of the Senate's Role in the Nomination and Confirmation Process

Author:

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution states that the President "shall nominate, and by and with the Advise and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other Public Ministers and Counsels, Judges of the Supreme Court, and all Other Officers of the United States, whose appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by law...." Exactly what the phrase "advise and consent" means in terms of distribution of power between the legislative and executive branches has been disputed almost since the beginning of the Republic. While some drafters of the Constitution believed the Senate's role would be minimal, others said the Senate would play a large role. The role the Senate has played in the nomination process has depended, in part, upon the relationship between the President and the Senate. Nonetheless, while there have been many controversies over nominations, the vast majority of nominees eventually make it through the process and are confirmed. Over time, the Senate has developed a series of procedures to deal with the concerns of its Members on nominations. First is the custom of senatorial courtesy, whereby Senators from the same party as the President might influence a nomination or kill it by objecting to it. This tradition has not always been absolute, but it has allowed Senators to play a fairly large role, particularly in the selection of nominees within a Senator's home state, such as for district court judgeships. For judicial nominations, the Judiciary Committee has developed a tradition of "blue slips," a document used to get a home-state Senator's opinion on a judicial nomination. The chair of the committee determines how much weight to give a Senator's objection to a judicial nominee. Other procedures that Senators have used to express their position on a nomination include holds, an informal procedure that can allow a single Senator to block action on a nomination (or legislation), and filibusters, extended debate that can block an up-or-down vote on a nomination (or legislation). Both procedures have been used to delay or block action on nominations. This report will be updated as events warrant.

It's Not Personal
It's Not Personal

Author: Logan Dancey

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2020-04-21

Total Pages: 211

ISBN-13: 0472126563

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In order to be confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the federal bench, all district and circuit court nominees must appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation hearing. Despite their relatively low profile, these lower court judges make up 99 percent of permanent federal judgeships and decide cases that relate to a wide variety of policy areas. To uncover why senators hold confirmation hearings for lower federal court nominees and the value of these proceedings more generally, the authors analyzed transcripts for all district and circuit court confirmation hearings between 1993 and 2012, the largest systematic analysis of lower court confirmation hearings to date. The book finds that the time-consuming practice of confirmation hearings for district and circuit court nominees provides an important venue for senators to advocate on behalf of their policy preferences and bolster their chances of being re-elected. The wide variation in lower court nominees’ experiences before the Judiciary Committee exists because senators pursue these goals in different ways, depending on the level of controversy surrounding a nominee. Ultimately, the findings inform a (re)assessment of the role hearings play in ensuring quality judges, providing advice and consent, and advancing the democratic values of transparency and accountability.

The President Shall Nominate
The President Shall Nominate

Author: Mitchel A. Sollenberger

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13:

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A comprehensive and path-breaking study of what happens behind the scenes before presidents publicly announce to the Senate--and, thus, the nation--their nominees for federal positions.

Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings in the U.S. Senate
Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings in the U.S. Senate

Author: Dion Farganis

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2014-03-24

Total Pages: 175

ISBN-13: 0472120271

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Critics claim that Supreme Court nominees have become more evasive in recent decades and that Senate confirmation hearings lack real substance. Conducting a line-by-line analysis of the confirmation hearing of every nominee since 1955—an original dataset of nearly 11,000 questions and answers from testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee—Dion Farganis and Justin Wedeking discover that nominees are far more forthcoming than generally assumed. Applying an original scoring system to assess each nominee’s testimony based on the same criteria, they show that some of the earliest nominees were actually less willing to answer questions than their contemporary counterparts. Factors such as changes in the political culture of Congress and the 1981 introduction of televised coverage of the hearings have created the impression that nominee candor is in decline. Further, senators’ votes are driven more by party and ideology than by a nominee’s responsiveness to their questions. Moreover, changes in the confirmation process intersect with increasing levels of party polarization as well as constituents’ more informed awareness and opinions of recent Supreme Court nominees.

Supreme Court Appointments
Supreme Court Appointments

Author: Norman Vieira

Publisher: SIU Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9780809322046

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Norman Vieira and Leonard Gross provide an in-depth analysis of the political and legal framework surrounding the confirmation process for Supreme Court nominees. President Ronald Reagan's nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court met with a fierce opposition that was apparent in his confirmation hearings, which were different in many ways from those of any previous nominee. This behind-the-scenes view of the politics and personalities involved in the Bork confirmation controversy provides a framework for future debates regarding the confirmation process. To help establish that framework, Vieira and Gross examine the similarities as well as the differences between the Bork confirmation battle and other confirmation proceedings for Supreme Court nominees.

Battle over the Bench
Battle over the Bench

Author: Amy Steigerwalt

Publisher: University of Virginia Press

Published: 2010-08-16

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0813929989

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Who gets seated on the lower federal courts and why? Why are some nominees confirmed easily while others travel a long, hard road to confirmation? What role do senators and interest groups play in determining who will become a federal judge? The lower federal courts have increasingly become the final arbiters of the important political and social issues of the day. As a result, who gets seated on the bench has become a major political issue. In Battle over the Bench, Amy Steigerwalt argues that the key to understanding the dynamics of the lower court confirmation process is to examine the process itself. She offers a new analytic framework for understanding when nominations become contested, and shows when and how key actors can influence the fate of nominations and ultimately determine who will become a federal judge. Given the increasing salience of lower court decisions, it is not surprising that interest groups and partisan agendas play an important role. Steigerwalt inventories the means by which senators push through or block nominations, and why interest groups decide to support or oppose certain nominations. The politics of judicial confirmations do not end there, however. Steigerwalt also reveals how many nominees are blocked for private political reasons that have nothing to do with ideology, while senators may use their support for or opposition to nominees as bargaining chips to garner votes for their positions on unrelated issues. Battle over the Bench showcases the complex and, at times, hidden motivations driving the staffing of the federal bench.