Supreme Court nominations / Betsy Palmer, editor.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Palmer, Betsy (Elizabeth A.)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States. Supreme Court--Officials and employees--Selection and appointment--History.

United States.

Judges--Selection and appointment--United States--History.

Judges.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (270 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New York : Nova Science Publishers, c2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The appointment of a Supreme Court Justice is an event of major significance in American politics. Each appointment is important 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 lifetime appointments. Such job security in the government has been conferred solely on judges and, by constitutional design, helps insure 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 lifetime 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. 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. The last recess appointments to the Court, made in the 1950s, were controversial because they bypassed the Senate and its "advice and consent" role.

Contents:

Supreme Court appointment process : roles of the President, Judiciary Committee and Senate / Denis Steven Rutkus

Supreme Court nominations not confirmed, 1789-2007 / Henry B. Hogue

Supreme Court nominations : Senate floor procedure and practice, 1789-2006 / Richard S. Beth and Betsy Palmer

Supreme Court nominations, 1789-2005 : actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President / Denis Steven Rutkus and Maureen Bearden

Speed of presidential and Senate actions on Supreme Court nominations, 1900-2005 / R. Sam Garrett and Denis Steven Rutkus.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-61728-588-9

OCLC:

923664037