Judicial Nominations
A Citizen's Quick Guide to Learning How Nominations Touch Your Life
It is no longer enough for informed citizens to support the passage of laws that reflect their policy preferences. They must now also pay attention to the process by which judges are nominated and confirmed to ensure that those policy preferences are executed faithfully. While other executive and legislative enactments can be reversed, judges receive lifetime appointments. The decision to appoint or confirm a federal judge may shape policy for decades.
The Vital Role of Federal Courts in Modern American Government
Fearful of concentrated political power, the Founders established an intricate system of checks and balances in which unelected judges play a valid, vital, but often misunderstood, role in the federal policy arena.
Historical Background
As the role of the courts grows, so do nominations controversies; the President and the Senate become partners in the process
While the power of the federal judiciary to shape policy has been acknowledged for most of American history, the composition of the federal bench has become the subject of intense debate only in relatively recent times.
