Download or read book The Appointment Process for U S Circuit and District Court Nominations written by Congressional Research Service and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2014-10-22 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent decades, the process for appointing judges to the U.S. circuit courts of appeals and the U.S. district courts has been of continuing Senate interest. The responsibility for making these appointments is shared by the President and the Senate. Pursuant to the Constitution's Appointments Clause, the President nominates persons to fill federal judgeships, with the appointment of each nominee also requiring Senate confirmation. Although not mentioned in the Constitution, an important role is also played midway in the appointment process by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The need for a President to make a circuit or district court nomination typically arises when a judgeship becomes or soon will become vacant. With almost no formal restrictions on whom the President may consider, an informal requirement is that judicial candidates are expected to meet a high standard of professional qualification. By custom, candidates who the President considers for district judgeships are typically identified by home state Senators if the latter are of the President's party, with such Senators, however, generally exerting less influence over the selection of circuit nominees. Another customary expectation is that the Administration, before the President selects a nominee, will consult both home state Senators, regardless of their party, to determine the acceptability to them of the candidate under consideration. In recent Administrations, the pre-nomination evaluation of judicial candidates has been performed jointly by staff in the White House Counsel's Office and the Department of Justice. Candidate finalists also undergo a confidential background investigation by the FBI and an independent evaluation by a committee of the American Bar Association. The selection process is completed when the President, approving of a candidate, signs a nomination message, which is then sent to the Senate. Once received by the Senate, the judicial nomination is referred to the Judiciary Committee, where professional staff initiate their own investigation into the nominee's background and qualifications. Also, during this pre-hearing phase, the committee, through its “blue slip” procedure, seeks the assessment of home state Senators regarding whether they approve having the committee consider and take action on the nominee. Next in the process is the confirmation hearing, where judicial nominees engage in a question and answer session with members of the Judiciary Committee. Questions from Senators may focus, among other things, on a nominee's qualifications, understanding of how to interpret the law, previous experiences, and the role of judges.

Download or read book The Appointment Process for U S Circuit and District Court Nominations written by Denis Steven Rutkus and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Appointment Process for U S Circuit and District Court Nominations written by Caleb Bowman and published by Nova Science Publishers. This book was released on 2016-09 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The selection and confirmation process for U.S. circuit and district court judges is of continuing interest to Congress. Recent Senate debates over judicial nominations have focused on issues such as the relative degree of success of President Barack Obamas nominees in gaining Senate confirmation compared with other recent Presidents, as well as the time from nomination to confirmation for nominees, and the relative prevalence of vacant judgeships compared to years past. This book addresses these issues, and others, by providing a statistical analysis of nominations to U.S. circuit and district court judgeships during the first six years of President Obamas time in office and that of his three most recent two-term predecessors, Presidents Reagan, Clinton and G.W. Bush.

Download or read book Appointment Process for U S Circuit and District Court Nominations written by Caleb Bowman and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Advice and Consent written by Lee Epstein and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2005-09-15 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Louis Brandeis to Robert Bork to Clarence Thomas, the nomination of federal judges has generated intense political conflict. With the coming retirement of one or more Supreme Court Justices--and threats to filibuster lower court judges--the selection process is likely to be, once again, the center of red-hot partisan debate. In Advice and Consent, two leading legal scholars, Lee Epstein and Jeffrey A. Segal, offer a brief, illuminating Baedeker to this highly important procedure, discussing everything from constitutional background, to crucial differences in the nomination of judges and justices, to the role of the Judiciary Committee in vetting nominees. Epstein and Segal shed light on the role played by the media, by the American Bar Association, and by special interest groups (whose efforts helped defeat Judge Bork). Though it is often assumed that political clashes over nominees are a new phenomenon, the authors argue that the appointment of justices and judges has always been a highly contentious process--one largely driven by ideological and partisan concerns. The reader discovers how presidents and the senate have tried to remake the bench, ranging from FDR's controversial "court packing" scheme to the Senate's creation in 1978 of 35 new appellate and 117 district court judgeships, allowing the Democrats to shape the judiciary for years. The authors conclude with possible "reforms," from the so-called nuclear option, whereby a majority of the Senate could vote to prohibit filibusters, to the even more dramatic suggestion that Congress eliminate a judge's life tenure either by term limits or compulsory retirement. With key appointments looming on the horizon, Advice and Consent provides everything concerned citizens need to know to understand the partisan rows that surround the judicial nominating process.

Download or read book U S Circuit and District Court Nominations written by Eileen G. Wiseman and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The process by which lower federal court judges are nominated by the President and considered by the Senate has, in recent decades, been of continuing interest to Senators. During recent Senate debates over judicial nominations, differing perspectives have been expressed about the relative degree of success of a Presidents nominees in gaining Senate confirmation, compared with nominees of other recent Presidents. This book provides a statistical analysis of nominations to US circuit and district court judgeships during the first terms of President Obama and his four most recent predecessors.

Download or read book Supreme Court Appointment Process written by Denis S. Rutkus and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2010-08 with total page 63 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contents: (1) Pres. Selection of a Nominee: Senate Advice; Advice from Other Sources; Criteria for Selecting a Nominee; Background Invest.; Recess Appoint. to the Court; (2) Consid. by the Senate Judiciary Comm.: Background: Senators Nominated to the Court; Open Hear.; Nominee Appear. at Confirm. Hear.; Comm. Involvement in Appoint. Process; Pre-Hearing Stage; Hearings; Reporting the Nomin.; (3) Senate Debate and Confirm. Vote; Bringing Nomin. to the Floor; Evaluate Nominees; Filibusters and Motions to End Debate; Voice Votes, Roll Calls, and Vote Margins; Reconsid. of the Confirm. Vote; Nomin. That Failed to be Confirmed; Judiciary Comm. to Further Examine the Nomin.; After Senate Confirm.

Download or read book Length of Time from Nomination to Confirmation for U S Circuit and District Court Nominees written by and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 17 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Role of Home State Senators in the Selection of Lower Federal Court Judges written by Denis Steven Rutkus and published by Nova Science Pub Incorporated. This book was released on 2008 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Supported by the custom of "senatorial courtesy," Senators of the President's party have long played, as a general rule, the primary role in selecting candidates for the President to nominate to federal district court judgeships in their states. They also have played an influential, if not primary, role in recommending candidates for federal circuit court judgeships associated with their states. For Senators who are not of the President's party, a consultative role, with the opportunity to convey to the President their views about candidates under consideration for judgeships in their states, also has been a long-standing practice -- and one supported by the "blue slip" procedure of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senators, in general, exert less influence over the selection of circuit court nominees. Whereas home state Senators of the President's party often dictate whom the President nominates to district judgeships, their recommendations for circuit nominees, by contrast, typically compete with names suggested to the Administration by other sources or generated by the Administration on its own. Whether and how a state's two Senators share in the judicial selection role will depend, to a great extent, on their respective prerogatives and interests. Senators have great discretion as to the procedures they will use to identify and evaluate judicial candidates, ranging from informally conducting candidate searches on their own to relying on nominating commissions to evaluate candidates. Contact between a Senator's office and the Administration can be expected to clarify the nature of the Senator's recommending role, including the degree to which the Administration, in its judicial candidate search, will rely on the Senator's recommendations. If a President selects a district or circuit court nominee against the advice of, or without consulting, a home state Senator, the latter must decide whether to oppose the nomination (either first in the Senate Judiciary Committee or later on the Senate floor). From the Senator's standpoint, opposition to the nomination might serve a number of purposes, including helping to prevent confirmation or influencing the Administration to take consultation more seriously in the future. On the other hand, various considerations might influence the Senator not to oppose the nomination, including the desirability of filling the vacant judgeship as promptly as possible and, if more home state vacancies are possible in the future, whether these might provide the Senator a better opportunity for exerting influence over judicial appointments. In recent years, the role of home state Senators in recommending judicial candidates has given rise to various issues, including the following: What constitutes "good faith" or "serious" consultation by the Administration? Should home state Senators always have the opportunity to provide their opinion of a judicial candidate before he or she is nominated? How differently should the Administration treat the input of Senators, depending on their party affiliation? What prerogatives should home state Senators have in the selection of circuit court nominees? Should the policy of the Judiciary Committee allow a home state Senator to block committee consideration of a judicial nominee?

Download or read book Judicial Nomination and Confirmation Process written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Supreme Court Appointment Process written by Congressional Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-07-04 with total page 30 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The appointment of a Supreme Court Justice is an event of major significance in American politics. Each appointment is of consequence because of the enormous judicial power the Supreme Court exercises as the highest appellate court in the federal judiciary. Appointments are usually infrequent, as a vacancy on the nine-member Court may occur only once or twice, or never at all, during a particular President's years in office. Under the Constitution, Justices on the Supreme Court receive what can amount to lifetime appointments which, by constitutional design, helps ensure the Court's independence from the President and Congress. The procedure for appointing a Justice is provided for by the Constitution in only a few words. The "Appointments Clause" (Article II, Section 2, clause 2) states that the President "shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint ... Judges of the supreme Court." The process of appointing Justices has undergone changes over two centuries, but its most basic feature-the sharing of power between the President and Senate-has remained unchanged: To receive appointment to the Court, a candidate must first be nominated by the President and then confirmed by the Senate. Political considerations typically play an important role in Supreme Court appointments. It is often assumed, for example, that Presidents will be inclined to select a nominee whose political or ideological views appear compatible with their own. The political nature of the appointment process becomes especially apparent when a President submits a nominee with controversial views, there are sharp partisan or ideological differences between the President and the Senate, or the outcome of important constitutional issues before the Court is seen to be at stake. Additionally, over more than two centuries, a recurring theme in the Supreme Court appointment process has been the assumed need for professional excellence in a nominee. During recent presidencies, nominees have at the time of nomination, most often, served as U.S. appellate court judges. The integrity and impartiality of an individual have also been important criteria for a President when selecting a nominee for the Court. The speed by which a President selects a nominee for a vacancy has varied during recent presidencies. A President might announce his intention to nominate a particular individual within several days of when a vacancy becomes publicly known, or a President might take multiple weeks or months to announce a nominee. The factors affecting the speed by which a President selects a nominee include whether a President had advance notice of a Justice's plan to retire, as well as when during the calendar year a Justice announces his or her departure from the Court. On rare occasions, Presidents also have made Court appointments without the Senate's consent, when the Senate was in recess. Such "recess appointments," however, were temporary, with their terms expiring at the end of the Senate's next session. Recess appointments have, at times, been considered controversial because they bypassed the Senate and its "advice and consent" role. The last recess appointment to the Court was made in 1958 when President Eisenhower appointed Potter Stewart as an Associate Justice (Justice Stewart was confirmed by the Senate the following year).

Download or read book Improving the Process of Appointing Federal Judges written by Miller Center Commission on the Selection of Federal Judges and published by . This book was released on 1996 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book U S Circuit and District Court Nominations During President Trump s First Year in Office written by Congressional Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-06 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report, in light of continued Senate interest in the judicial confirmation process during a President's first year in office, provides statistics related to the nomination and confirmation of U.S. circuit and district court nominees during the first year of the Trump presidency (as well as during the first year of each of his three immediate predecessors-Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton). Some of the report's findings regarding circuit court nominations include the following: The number of U.S. circuit court vacancies decreased by 1, from 17 to 16, during the first year of the Trump presidency. The percentage of circuit court judgeships that were vacant decreased from 9.5% to 8.9%. During his first year in office, President Trump nominated 19 individuals to U.S. circuit court judgeships, of whom 12 (or 63%) were also confirmed during the first year of his presidency. Of individuals nominated to circuit court judgeships during President Trump's first year in office, 15 (79%) were men and 4 (21%) were women. Of individuals nominated to circuit court judgeships during President Trump's first year in office, 17 (89%) were white and 2 (11%) were Asian American. The average age of President Trump's first-year circuit court nominees was 49. Of individuals nominated to circuit court judgeships during President Trump's first year in office, 16 (84%) received a rating of well qualified from the American Bar Association, 2 (11%) received a rating of qualified, and 1 (5%) received a rating of not qualified. The average length of time from nomination to confirmation for President Trump's first-year circuit and district court nominees (combined) was 115 days, or approximately 3.8 months. Each of the circuit court nominees confirmed during President Trump's first year in office was confirmed by roll call vote (and none by unanimous consent or voice vote). Of the 12 circuit court nominees confirmed during President Trump's first year in office, 11 received more than 20 nay votes at the time of confirmation (and of the 11, 9 received more than 40 nay votes). Some of the report's findings regarding district court nominations include the following: The number of U.S. district court vacancies increased by 38, from 86 to 124, during the first year of the Trump presidency. The percentage of district court judgeships that were vacant increased from 12.8% to 18.4%. During his first year in office, President Trump nominated 49 individuals to U.S. district court judgeships, of whom 6 (12%) were also confirmed during the first year of his presidency. Of individuals nominated to district court judgeships during President Trump's first year in office, 37 (76%) were men and 12 (24%) were women. Of individuals nominated to district court judgeships during President Trump's first year in office, 45 (92%) were white, 2 (4%) were Asian American, 1 (2%) was African American, and 1 (2%) was Hispanic. The average age of President Trump's first-year district court nominees was 51. Of individuals nominated to district court judgeships during President Trump's first year in office, 26 (53%) received a rating of well qualified, 20 (41%) received a rating of qualified, and 3 (6%) received a rating of not qualified from the American Bar Association. Each of the district court nominees confirmed during President Trump's first year in office was confirmed by roll call vote (and none by unanimous consent or voice vote). Of the six district court nominees confirmed during President Trump's first year in office, two received more than five nay votes.

Download or read book Confirmation Hearing on Federal Appointments written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 584 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Judicial Nomination Statistics written by Denis Steven Rutkus and published by Nova Publishers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents statistics regarding procedural actions taken on US district and circuit court nominations for the period January 4, 1977 through 2002. Among other things, the statistics for the 1977-2002 period show: Over the course of five successive presidencies, the senate confirmation percentage for circuit court nominations has declined. The great majority of each President's nominations have either been confirmed or returned. An average of seven nominations per President have been withdrawn. One nomination has been disapproved by a senate vote. The confirmation percentage for district and circuit court nominations combined was greater than 60% for every congressional session from 1977 through 1990, whereas the district and circuit combined confirmation rate has been less than 60% for eight of the last 12 congressional session. The average number of days elapsing between nominations date and final action has been higher for most Congresses in the post-1990 period than for prior Congresses. Starting with the 100th Congress (1987-1988), and in five of the seven Congresses since, an average of more than 100 days has elapsed between nomination dates and committee votes on either district or circuit court nominations, or on both. For almost every Congress in the post-1990 period, the percentages of district and circuit court nominations left pending at the end of the congress were higher than corresponding percentages for the pre-1990 Congresses. The Senate returned substantially more nominations during the 102nd, 106th, and 107th Congresses than during any other Congresses in the 1977-2002 period. The average number of days between nomination date and final action increased in Congresses ending in presidential election years. The vast majority of judicial nominations submitted during the 1977-2002 period received committee hearings and votes, as well as full Senate votes. However, during the 102nd, 106th, and 107th Congresses, there were reductions in the share of nominations receiving committee and Senate action.

Download or read book Supreme Court Appointment Process written by Congressional Research Service and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-09-06 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The appointment of a Supreme Court Justice is an event of major significance in American politics. Each appointment is of consequence because of the enormous judicial power the Supreme Court exercises as the highest appellate court in the federal judiciary. To receive appointment to the Court, a candidate must first be nominated by the President and then confirmed by the Senate. Although not mentioned in the Constitution, an important role is played midway in the process (after the President selects, but before the Senate considers) by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Specifically, the Judiciary Committee, rather than the Senate as a whole, assumes the principal responsibility for investigating the background and qualifications of each Supreme Court nominee, and typically the committee conducts a close, intensive investigation of each nominee. Since the late 1960s, the Judiciary Committee's consideration of a Supreme Court nominee almost always has consisted of three distinct stages-(1) a pre-hearing investigative stage, followed by (2) public hearings, and concluding with (3) a committee decision on what recommendation to make to the full Senate. During the pre-hearing investigative stage, the nominee responds to a detailed Judiciary Committee questionnaire, providing biographical, professional, and financial disclosure information to the committee. In addition to the committee's own investigation of the nominee, the FBI also investigates the nominee and provides the committee with confidential reports related to its investigation. During this time, the American Bar Association also evaluates the professional qualifications of the nominee, rating the nominee as "well qualified," "qualified," or "not qualified." Additionally, prior to hearings starting, the nominee pays courtesy calls on individual Senators in their offices, including Senators who do not serve on the Judiciary Committee. Once the Judiciary Committee completes its investigation of the nominee, he or she testifies in hearings before the committee. On average, for Supreme Court nominees who have received hearings from 1975 to the present, the nominee's first hearing occurred 40 days after his or her nomination was formally submitted to the Senate by the President. Questioning of a nominee by Senators has involved, as a matter of course, the nominee's legal qualifications, biographical background, and any earlier actions as public figures. Other questions have focused on social and political issues, the Constitution, particular court rulings, current constitutional controversies, and judicial philosophy. For the most recent nominees to the Court, hearings have lasted for four or five days (although the Senate may decide to hold more hearings if a nomination is perceived as controversial-as was the case with Robert Bork's nomination in 1987, who had 11 days of hearings). Usually within a week upon completion of the hearings, the Judiciary Committee meets in open session to determine what recommendation to "report" to the full Senate. The committee's usual practice has been to report even those Supreme Court nominations opposed by a committee majority, allowing the full Senate to make the final decision on whether the nomination should be approved. Consequently, the committee may report the nomination favorably, report it unfavorably, or report it without making any recommendation at all. Of the 15 most recent Supreme Court nominations reported by the Judiciary Committee, 13 were reported favorably, 1 was reported unfavorably, and 1 was reported without recommendation.

Download or read book United States Circuit and District Court Nominations by President George W Bush During the 107th 109th Congresses written by Denis Steven Rutkus and published by . This book was released on 2007 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: