Supreme Court Nominations

Many Presidents have found that the persons they nominate to the Supreme Court make decisions that are not in accord with the ideological views of President himself. There was a time when Supreme court appointments were undertaken in a pro forma fashion. Then, the Court was not considered an institution with as much power or importance as Congress and the Executive even though the three branches of government were supposed to be equal to one another. Yet, more recently battles over Supreme Court nominees have been heated, showing a shift in attitude as more and more policies are set by legislative fiat based on a reading of the Constitution. Presidents today want those they nominate to follow their ideology closely, but there is still no guarantee that this will occur. Judges are human beings, and they change their views just as the public does, just as the political environment changes, and just as new issues with new circumstances require changes in the law. Presidents can control who they nominate, and the Senate has a role in agreeing with the nominees, a process that has become more heated and more focused in recent years. Still, the doctrine of judicial independence is prized and is also embodied in the Constitution so that Justices are confirmed for life, leaving them to make their decisions without political pressure having much influence.

In 1953, President Dwight Eisenhower nominated former California Governor Earl Warren as the Chief Justice of the Suprem

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enate is more likely to find a nomine controversial when the nominee is not in ideological agreement with the Senate rather than with the President (Cameron, Cover, and Segal 525-534). The timing of a nomination has been found to play a role (Segal 1015), meaning which year of a President's tenure in office the nomination is made. Presidents who make nominations in their first year or so in office are more likely to be heeded, while Presidents making nominations in their last year or so in office, when they face an ideologically-different Senate, are more likely to encounter resistance. There may also be resistance or support available from special interest groups and lobbies, and this can also have an impact on the course of a nomination, beginning with whether the President decides to make a specific nomination or not. The very fact that a President knows that the Senate has the right to confirm or reject his selection will shape how he makes that selection in the first place. Nominees who are not in agreement with the ideology of the Senate will probably not be nominated unless the President believes he has sufficient political capital to push the nomination through--no President likes to make nominations that are reject

Category: Government - S