The appointment process for the Supreme Court.

Question 1

what are the 5 stages in the appointment process

Answer 1

1 - vanancy occurs (death, retirement or impeachment)
2 - pres starts looking for possible nominees
3 - pres announces their nominee
4- the senate judiary committee holds a conformation hearing on the nominee and makes a recommendatory vote
5 - nomination debated and voted on in the full senate, simple majority vote needed for conformation

Question 2

why are sc nominations so important

Answer 2

so infrequent, betwene 1994 and 2005 there were no appointments at all, they are for life, only 9 - so person nominated can have a large impact on legislation for next few decades and the pres looks for someone with a similar ideological background to them

eg in 2019 WASHINGTON POST said ‘trump is simply the luckiest president in modern us history’ eg he had 3 nominations in one four year term

Question 3

what is an echo chamber

Answer 3

the influence of previous presidents no longer in office remains through their sc appointment due to their lifetime tenure of justices

Question 4

the conformation process

Answer 4

appearing before the senate judiciary committee - they vote on whether to recommend further action or not (despite it only being recommendatory it is a pointer to the likely outcome when the full senate makes their final decision) eg committee voted 7-7 on Thomas so it was clear he was in for a fight in the senate

Question 5

controversies with rejecting a nominee

Answer 5

there have been 12 in history
eg reagan nominee ROBERT BORK by 42 votes to 58 because he was ‘too conservative and too closely associated to nixon and he had played a part in the watergate affair

Question 6

controversies with no action taken over a nominee

Answer 6

obama - second term, in march, nominated GARLAND to fill vacancy and the republican controlled senate simply declined to hear the nomination arguing that it was too close to the november election and that the nomination should be made by the newly elected pres

Question 7

controversies with amy coney barrets appointment

Answer 7

trump nominated coney barret during the last few weeks of his term - the senate republicans were accused of hypocrisy after not letting obamas GARLAND be heard so close to the end of term.

Question 8

strengths to the conformation process and example

Answer 8

ensures personal suitability: each nominee receives a detailed background scrutiny by the white house, FBI, the senate judiciary committee and the media - this means that any controversial decision or past mistakes will be uncovered

eg the full senate vote on KAVANAUGH was delayed until the FBI did a full investigation after there were sexual assault allegations against him as well as the FBI background check. many republicans felt that they couldn’t back him until this investigation was completed - and they didn’t find anything

Question 9

weaknesses of the conformation process

Answer 9

process is politicised and personal: the senate judicial committee can ask very personal and aggressive questions, whereas the questioning by the presidents party on the committee is often very ‘easy’ that they aren’t scrutinising at all. Therefore, the hearings have lost lots of its original purpose to scrutinise and instead are in favour for partisan statements. this has lead to nominees complaining about how personal and intrusive some of the questions can be

eg KAVANAUGH “my family and my name have been totally and perminantly destroyed by vicious and false allegations”

Question 10

what are the ideologies which can define a justice

Answer 10

conservative
liberal
loose constructionist
strict constructionist
judicial restraint
judicial activism
living constitution
originalism

Question 11

what are a judges ideologies important

Answer 11

determines which laws and actions will be allowed to stand and which will be struck down as ‘unconstitutional’

Question 12

conservative ideology

Answer 12

limited federal gov, uphold conservative ideas such as pro gun and anti-abortion and interpret const literally

eg clarence thomas

Question 13

liberal ideology

Answer 13

greater equality for all, even if it means larger federal gov eg gun control and LGBT rights and interpret consti more broadly

eg sotomayor

Question 14

loose constructionist

Answer 14

liberal) - interpret wording broadly and give more power to federal gov

eg kagen

Question 15

strict constructionist

Answer 15

conservative) - sticks to wording of const as it is written, without interpretation which protects state power

eg alito

Question 16

judicial restraint

Answer 16

conservative) limited role of sc, and wanting to defer to the people who are elected and accountable branches as much as possible

eg coney barret

Question 17

judicial activism

Answer 17

liberal) - uses their position to achieve rulings which give desirable social ends which may include overturning previous court rulings

eg ginsburg

Question 18

living constitution

Answer 18

liberal) constitution is a living anf evolving doc that can be changed through reinterpretation over time - link to loose constructionist

eg cheif justice roberts

Question 19

originalism

Answer 19

the meaning and interpretation of the us constitution is set by the original priciples of the doc and shouldnt be subjected to broad interpretation in light of modern times

eg kavanaugh