The Appointments Process Flashcards
How are judges appointed?
Chosen by the president
Confirmed by the senate with a simple majority
How long are judges in place?
Until retirement or death
They can also be impeached
This means appointments are important to Presidents as they hope their choices will allow an echo chamber in the court
What salaries do you pay justices?
We don’t know but the salary is not to be reduced while in office
Who did Obama try to appoint to Scalia’s seat? What happened?
Merrick Garland a moderate judge
Republican senators refused to hold hearings until after the presidential election
Although a nomination had never happened in an election year before some think the nomination was stolen from Obama
Which President made no appointments?
Carter
Where can Presidents seek advice on appointments?
Political advisors
Key Congress members
Senate Judiciary Committee
American Bar Association (ABA)
-democrats tend to do this
What are the pools of recruitment for the Supreme Court?
FEDERAL COURT OF APPEALS
- one tier below SCOTUS
- 8 of the current justices from this court
STATE COURTS
-Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor who was on the Arizona state court of appeals.
DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
-Kagan was solicitor General at the department of justice before she jointed SCOTUS
What happens once a shortlist for nominees is drawn up?
FBI background checks
President personally interviews 2 or 3 finalists
Announcement
ABA standing committee on the federal judiciary gives a rating. Either ‘well qualified’, ‘qualified’ or ‘not qualified’
Which is the only SCOTUS justice who wasn’t given an ABA rating of ‘well qualified’?
Clarence Thomas
He was only given ‘qualified’ although some on the ABA standing committee wanted to give him a ‘not qualified’ rating
Name a Supreme Court nominee who withdrew due to harsh questioning by the Senate?
Harriet Miers
A Bush nominee, people were unconvinced of her ideological credentials
What happens at the Senate Judiciary questioning?
The nominee is questioned and the committee vote.
The vote doesn’t mean anything but is a guideline as to how the senate will vote in general.
Which nominee was defeated in the Senate Judiciary committee and later in the Senate?
Robert Bork 1987
he was too conservative and had watergate associations however he was one of the best judicial scholars
Womens organisations went against him and $15 million was spent on a campaign against him
Which justice had a 7-7 vote in the Senate judiciary committee and only got through the Senate by four votes?
Thomas
Which justice got a unanimous approval by the Senate Judiciary committee and a 96-3 approval on the senate floor?
The notorious RBG
What majority is required in the senate to approve a judicial appointment?
A simple one
Name three appointments that were rejected?
Robert Bork 1987
Clement Haynesworth 1969
Harrold Carswell 1970
All in an unfriendly senate
Why could republicans not protest the nomination of Sotomayor?
She was Hispanic and Republicans did not want to upset Hispanic voters
Sotomayor would not change the philosophical balance of the court as Souter was also a moderate liberal. Like for like replacement is less controversial
What did Sotomayor say in her appointment process that questions the concept that nominees are echo chambers of their president?
‘I wouldn’t approach the issue of judging the way the President does. Judges can’t rely on what’s in their heart. The job of a judge is to apply the law.’
this went against Obama’s belief that justices should listen to their heart
beings into question the idea of the court being an echo chamber
How are appointments politicised?
Presidents select nominees with similar ideologies
Clinton picked Breyer and Ginsburg, arguably two of the most liberal justices
Senate politicised
Clarence Thomas, only 2 Rs voted against and 11 Dems for
What is the litmus test of justices?
look at past controversial cases such as those on abortion, affirmative action or capital punishment. The president tries to pick a liberal or conservative judge based on their own politics
Why did the Senate not question Thomas well enough?
focused on allegations of sexual harassment and not his rubbish qualifications
ended up being a nomination split on party lines
How does questioning differ for the presidents party and opposition in the Senate judiciary committee?
president’s party ask soft questions (Gorsuch Ted Cruz asked ‘would you rather fight 100 duck sized horses or one horse sized duck?’
the opposition take out a search and destroy mission, tying to attack and embarrass the nominee
What happened with Alito’s nomination?
justices being confirmed on party lines is an indicator of a polarised process
not a single Democrat in the senate judiciary committee voted to recommend Alito’s confirmation, on the senate floor only four democrats tried to confirm him
even the Washington Post, a left of centre paper thought he should be confirmed
Why was Bork not being appointed bad?
he was well qualified, a scholar
How did the media politicise Thomas’s appointment?
lurid allegations of sexual misconduct
Why are supreme court nominations important?
only come up every few years
outlast the president significantly
only 9 members and therefore a new member is one ninth of the courts membership- influential
court is powerful, judicial review affects americans in important ways.
Explain the switch in time that saved nine?
FDR proposes packing the court as he is tired of seeing New deal legislation being chipped away at. (he can do this as it doesn’t say int eh constitution that there must be nine)
This threat makes the court uphold a minimum wage in a case
What happened with the nomination of Gorsuch?
Scalia ( a very conservative judge) dies while Obama is in office and Obama tries to replace him with moderate Merrick Garland, this would have changed the makeup of the court.
This happened in 2016 and as it was an election year the Republican controlled Senate argued that because the Presidency was expected to change hands Obama did not have the right to make the appointment. Most Democrats see this as ‘stealing the seat’
In a highly political action, the senate Republicans refused to hold hearings for Garland, let alone vote to reject or confirm the appointment.
Trump wins the presidency, partly due to hopes for a conservative supreme court pick. He nominates Gorsuch, a very conservative judge (Frozen trucker case). Gorsuch received the highest ABA rating like Garland and his hearing was full of friendly questioning ‘horse ducks’
Senate Democrats tried to filibuster so Mitch McConnel extended the nuclear option meaning that appointments can not be filibustered. Gorsuch passes 54-45 with 3 Democrats voting for him and one Republican abstaining due to surgery
How many dems voted to confirm Gorsuch?
4
