Supreme Court Nominations 1789-2005: Actions (Including Speed) by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee & the President

The process of appointing Supreme Court 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 a lifetime appointment to the Court, a candidate must first be nominated by the President and then confirmed by the Senate. An important role also has come to be played midway in the process (after the President selects, but before the Senate considers) by the Senate Judiciary Committee. The book provides information on the amount of time taken to act on all Supreme Court nominations occurring between 1900 and the present. It focuses on the actual amounts of time that Presidents and the Senate have taken to act (as opposed to the elapsed time between official points in the process). This book focuses on when the Senate became aware of the President’s selection (e.g., via a public announcement by the President).