Questioning Justices: An Examination of Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings From 1955-2005
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The United States Supreme Court is the final constitutional authority in the United States, whose decisions have wide ranging implications for the entire nation. The Justices who sit on the Supreme Court are appointed to their posts for life, and outside of Congressional limits on jurisdiction and impeachment, the Supreme Court exists largely on the outside of the system of Checks and Balances set up by the Constitution. One check on the Supreme Court that is available to the other two branches of government, and the American people, is the confirmation process. This process includes public hearings that have the nominees face questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee on their qualifications and views.
The purpose of this study is to analyze the questions senators ask of the nominees to the Supreme Court during the public hearing portion of their confirmation hearings. To do this the transcripts for all confirmation hearings starting with John Marshall Harlan II's hearing in 1955 up to Samuel Alito's hearing in 2005 is coded by exchanges between the senator and the nominee. These exchanges were coded as either a question on views or question on facts. The results show that certain factors, especially party polarization, greatly affect the number of questions of views a nominee is likely to face. With party polarization increasing over the past three decades, future nominees to the Supreme Court can expect to face a barrage of questions on their views compared to their predecessors.
Document number: bgsu1288628751
Permalink: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1288628751
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