Senate Judiciary Committee reviews of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States information
Sonia Sotomayor appearing before the Judiciary Committee on the first day of hearings on her 2009 nomination to the Supreme Court
This article is part of a series on the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Court
History
Procedures
Nomination and confirmation
Judiciary Committee review
Demographics
Ideological leanings of justices
Lists of decisions
Supreme Court building
Current membership
Chief Justice
John Roberts
Associate justices
Clarence Thomas
Samuel Alito
Sonia Sotomayor
Elena Kagan
Neil Gorsuch
Brett Kavanaugh
Amy Coney Barrett
Ketanji Brown Jackson
Retired justices
Anthony Kennedy
David Souter
Stephen Breyer
Lists of justices
List of all justices
by court
by time in office
by seat
by education
List of chief justices
List of associate justices
Specialty lists
All nominations
Unsuccessful nominations
Confirmation votes
Justices who served in Congress
Burial places of justices
Court functionaries
Clerks
Reporter of Decisions
Marshal of the Court
Supreme Court Police
Other countries
Law Portal
v
t
e
Since the creation of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary (Judiciary Committee) in 1816, many, but not all, nominations for the Supreme Court of the United States have been first referred to a committee for review prior to facing a confirmation vote before the full United States Senate.[1] Some nominations have been withdrawn, lapsed, or been postponed without being referred to the Judiciary Committee, while some others up until 1941 had proceeded to full Senate confirmation votes without first being reviewed by the Judiciary Committee. However, ever since 1941, all nominations have been referred to the Judiciary Committee.[1]
In the 19th century and portions of the early 20th century, Judiciary Committee reviews were brief and entailed rather cursory looks at the nominee. However, increasingly since the 1910s, the process became more rigorous. The 1916 nomination of Louis Brandeis was the first to feature public hearings on the nomination and only the second recorded instance of any form of hearings being a part of a Judiciary Committee review of a Supreme Court nomination. From after Brandeis’ 1916 hearings until the mid-1930s, it was regarded as a courtesy to spare nominees from hearings. However, after controversy arose when it was reported shortly after Hugo Black was confirmed in 1937 without much deliberation and without any hearings that he had had association with the Ku Klux Klan, this was changed and it became more common for hearings to be held and for confirmations. The first nominee to testify at hearings on their own nomination was Harlan F. Stone in 1925, but he was the only one to do so until after the controversy surrounding Hugo Black. Since Harold Hitz Burton in 1946, no nominee has proceeded to a confirmation vote without hearings, and only four nominations that have been put forth have since failed to have hearings (all four of which lapsed or were withdrawn without confirmation votes). In more recent confirmations, hearings have often lasted around four or five days.
In more recent practice, between the announcement of the nomination and the start of hearings, the Judiciary Committee undertakes an investigative stage in which committee members and their staffs prepare for the hearings by looking over the background of the nominees and relevant issues. During this stage, nominees are typically prepped by the presidential administration for the hearings, including holding grueling mock-hearings often-dubbed “murder boards”. The nominee also often pays “courtesy call” visits to the offices of individual United States Senators. The American Bar Association's Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary also usually provides their evaluation of the nominee's qualifications in this period before hearings are held.
Typically, at the end of its reviews of nominations, the Judiciary Committee has reported to the full Senate on the nomination. Often these reports have included either a positive or negative assessment of a nomination. The decision of how the Judiciary Committee reports has been conducted by a vote of its members. Historically, the Judiciary Committee had often published printed volumes outlining its members’ views. However, this has not occurred with any nominations in the 21st century.
^ abMcMillion, Barry J.; Rutkus, Denis Steven (July 6, 2018). "Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2017: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. Retrieved March 9, 2022.
and 29 Related for: Senate Judiciary Committee reviews of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States information
Since the creation oftheSenateCommittee on theJudiciary (JudiciaryCommittee) in 1816, many, but not all, nominations for theSupremeCourtofthe United...
any individual to serve on theCourt. In modern practice, SupremeCourtnominations are first referred totheSenateJudiciaryCommittee before being considered...
Justice oftheSupremeCourtoftheUnitedStates, to succeed Lewis F. Powell Jr., who had earlier announced his retirement. At the time of his nomination, Bork...
TheJudiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, 1 Stat. 73) was a UnitedStates federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session ofthe First...
United States with the Advice and Consent oftheUnitedStatesSenate. Breyer was nominated totheSupremeCourt by Bill Clinton on August 3, 1994, to fill...
Justice oftheSupremeCourtoftheUnitedStatesto replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. Alito's nomination was confirmed by a 58–42 vote ofthe United...
the White House, that same day. On October 3, he took the judicial oath provided for by theJudiciary Act of 1789 at theUnitedStatesSupremeCourt building...
consent oftheUnitedStatesSenate, which holds the determinant power to confirm or reject nominationstothe U.S. SupremeCourt. Brandeis' nomination attracted...
selection of Elena Kagan for Associate Justice oftheSupremeCourtoftheUnitedStates, to replace retiring Justice John Paul Stevens. Kagan's nomination was...
by voters. The SenateJudiciaryCommittee refused to consider the Garland nomination, thus keeping the vacancy open through the end of Obama's presidency...
maximum of six, for every member ofthecourt over the age of 70 years. In theJudiciary Act of 1869, Congress had established that theSupremeCourt would...
advice and consent oftheUnitedStatesSenate, which holds the determinant power to confirm or reject nominationstothe U.S. SupremeCourt. After being favorably...
theSenateJudiciaryCommittee at the upcoming Robert Bork SupremeCourtnomination hearings, and his appeal to Baby Boomers; he would have been the second-youngest...
Global Information
