Who gets seated on the lower federal courts and why? Why are some nominees confirmedeasily while others travel a long, hard road to confirmation? What role do senators and interestgroups play in determining who will become a federal judge? The lower federal courts haveincreasingly become the final arbiters of the important political and social issues of the day. As aresult, who gets seated on the bench has become a major political issue. In Battle over theBench, Amy Steigerwalt argues that the key to understanding the dynamics of the lowercourt confirmation process is to examine the process itself. She offers a new analytic framework forunderstanding when nominations become contested, and shows when and how key actors can influence thefate of nominations and ultimately determine who will become a federal judge. Given theincreasing salience of lower court decisions, it is not surprising that interest groups and partisanagendas play an important role. Steigerwalt inventories the means by which senators push through orblock nominations, and why interest groups decide to support or oppose certain nominations. Thepolitics of judicial confirmations do not end there, however. Steigerwalt also reveals how manynominees are blocked for private political reasons that have nothing to do with ideology, whilesenators may use their support for or opposition to nominees as bargaining chips to garner votes fortheir positions on unrelated issues. Battle over the Bench showcases the complex and, at times,hidden motivations driving the staffing of the federal bench.
Titel
Battle over the Bench
Untertitel
Senators, Interest Groups, and Lower Court Confirmations
Autor
EAN
9780813929989
Format
E-Book (pdf)
Hersteller
Genre
Veröffentlichung
16.08.2010
Digitaler Kopierschutz
Adobe-DRM
Unerwartete Verzögerung
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