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Judges & Justices. PSCI 2481. Questions. Who is the President of the United States? Who is the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court? Name the Associate Justices. Who is the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court? Name the Associate Justices of the Colorado Supreme Court.
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Judges & Justices PSCI 2481
Questions • Who is the President of the United States? • Who is the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court? • Name the Associate Justices. • Who is the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court? • Name the Associate Justices of the Colorado Supreme Court.
What Americans Know • Name of the President: 99% • Name of Governor of State: 86% • Name of the Chief Justice: 51% • Name both US Senators: 35%
Thomas 20% Scalia 11% Roberts 9% Ginsburg 9% Alito 5% Kennedy 4% Souter 3% Stevens 2% Breyer 1% When asked to name 2 of the current Justices: 61% could not name any justices, 15% named one 24% named two. Knowledge of the Current Court
Earlier Surveys 8/1995 6/2003 12/2005O'Connor 31% O'Connor 25% O'Connor 27%Thomas 30% Thomas 21% Thomas 21%Rehnquist 8%Rehnquist 10%Roberts 16%Ginsburg 7% Ginsburg 9% Scalia 13%Scalia 6% Scalia 9% Ginsburg 12%Souter 4% Souter 4% Kennedy 7%Kennedy 4% Kennedy 4% Souter 5%Breyer 1% Breyer 2% Breyer 3%Stevens 1% Stevens 1% Stevens 3% -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- zero 55% zero 65% zero 57%one 16% one+ 35% one+ 43%two 11%three 17% n=1200 n=1000 n=1000
Depressing Statistics? • When asked to name two of Snow White's Seven Dwarfs and two of the nine U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 77% of Americans polled were able to identify two dwarfs, while only 24% could name two Supreme Court Justices.
“By far the most important appointments [a president] makes are those to the Supreme Court of the United States. Presidents come and go, but the Supreme Court through its decisions goes on forever.” - Richard Nixon
The Federal System of Judicial Selection Article III, Section 2: “He [The President] shall nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shalll appoint…judges of the Supreme Court and all other officers of the United States.”
Back to the Constitutional Convention & the Federalist Papers • Virginia Plan – All federal judges should be appointed by the Congress • Too many judges - let Senate do it • Attempts to shift all responsibility to President were defeated. • Only in the final days was the President given authority to participate in the process with a nomination to be balanced out by Senate concurrence • Federalist #76. Hamilton (an advocate of a strong President argues against sole Presidential appointment of judges)
Nomination Criteria • There are NO constitutional qualifications! • Competence • Ideology/Policy Preferences • Pursuit of Political Support • Religion • Geography • Race and gender
Federal Selection Process President Dept. of Justice Senators ABA Interest Groups Senate Jud. Comm. Senate
Nominations & Confirmations • Supreme Court nominations are among the most controversial made by the President. • Recently (since the late 1960’s), court nominations have been particularly controversial. • Controversy is a mostly function of historical periods of “divided government”.
Modern controversy over judicial appointments precedes Roe v. Wade. That is, it’s not just about ABORTION although that’s what we hear most about in contemporary hearings. • Really dates to the late 1960’s in when the Democrats and Republicans began to battle over a series of nominations: • Abe Fortas • Clement Haynesworth • Harold Carswell • William Rehnquist
“Recent” Controversies • Robert Bork, 1986 • Clarence Thomas, 1992 • Lower Federal court appointments, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 • Samuel Alito 2006
Why Such a Big Deal? • Justices are around “forever”. • Trend – Presidents are appointing younger justices to have a longer impact -- and to prevent their successors from changing the court! • Truman – My “biggest mistake”. (Presidents really see the court as important!)
Truman and Justice Clark • MM: “What do you consider your biggest mistake?” • HST: “Tom Clark was my biggest mistake. No question about it.” • MM: “I’m sorry, sir. I’m not sure I understand.” • HST: “That damn fool from Texas that I first made Attorney General and then put on the Supreme Court. I don’t know what got into me. He was no damn good as Attorney General and on the Supreme Court…it doesn’t seem possible but he’s been even worse.”
Truman and Justice Clark II • MM: “How do you explain the fact that he’s been such a bad Justice?” • HST: “The main thing is…well, it isn’t so much that he’s a bad man. It’s just that he’s such a dumb son of a bitch. He’s about the dumbest man I think I’ve ever run across. And lots of times that’s the case. Being dumb’s just about the worst thing there is when it comes to holding high office and that’s especially true when it’s the Supreme Court of the United States.”
Other Presidential Mistakes • Dwight Eisenhower • Justice William Brennan • Chief Justice Earl Warren • John F. Kennedy • Justice Byron White • Richard Nixon • Justice Harold Blackmun • George H. W. Bush • Justice Daniel Souter
Q: But does having experience make someone a “good” justice? • Of the 100+ members of the Court throughout history, 40 have had no experience. • Among those w/o experience have been 8 of the 17 Chief Justices (Marshall, Taney, Chase, Waite, Fuller Hughes, Stone and Warren). All have been considered “Great” CJs. • On the other hand, “previous judicial experience has predicted mediocrity rather than greatness, whether as Asociate or Chief Justice.” (Spaeth, 1976, 101)
CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF JUSTICES’ IDEOLOGY (Most Liberal) (Most Conservative) 1972 Douglas Marshall Brennan Stewart Powell White Blackmun Burger Rehnquist 1982 Marshall Brennan Stevens Blackmun Powell WhiteBurger O’Connor Rehnquist 1992 Blackmun Stevens O’Connor Souter White KennedyThomas Rehnquist Scalia
The First Justices • John Jay (Chief Justice) • John Rutledge • William Cushing • James Wilson • John Blair • James Iredell
