Who gets seated on the lower federal courts and why? Why are
some nominees confirmed easily while others travel a long, hard
road to confirmation? What role do senators and interest groups
play in determining who will become a federal judge? The lower
federal courts have increasingly become the final arbiters of the
important political and social issues of the day. As a result, who
gets seated on the bench has become a major political issue. In
"Battle over the Bench, " Amy Steigerwalt argues that the key to
understanding the dynamics of the lower court confirmation process
is to examine the process itself. She offers a new analytic
framework for understanding when nominations become contested, and
shows when and how key actors can influence the fate of nominations
and ultimately determine who will become a federal judge.
Given the increasing salience of lower court decisions, it is
not surprising that interest groups and partisan agendas play an
important role. Steigerwalt inventories the means by which senators
push through or block nominations, and why interest groups decide
to support or oppose certain nominations. The politics of judicial
confirmations do not end there, however. Steigerwalt also reveals
how many nominees are blocked for private political reasons that
have nothing to do with ideology, while senators may use their
support for or opposition to nominees as bargaining chips to garner
votes for their positions on unrelated issues. Battle over the
Bench showcases the complex and, at times, hidden motivations
driving the staffing of the federal bench.
General
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