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32 Fla. St. U. L. Rev. 1145 (2004-2005)
The Role of Qualifications in the Confirmation of Nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court

handle is hein.journals/flsulr32 and id is 1157 raw text is: THE ROLE OF QUALIFICATIONS IN THE CONFIRMATION OF NOMINEES TO THE U.S. SUPREME COURT LEE EPSTEIN,* JEFFREY A. SEGAL,** NANCY STAUDT*** AND RENE LINDSTADT**** In light of concerns that politics, philosophy, and ideology now domi- nate the federal judicial appointment process-a process that many claim should emphasize ethics, competence, and integrity-scholars have offered a range of proposals. A considerable number, though, aim to compel elected actors to focus on the candidates' qualifications rather than on their political preferences. Without taking a normative position on these sorts of proposals, we demonstrate empirically that the process leading to the appointment of (at least) Supreme Court Justices may not be the mess that the proposals suggest. While it is true that U.S. Senators are more likely to cast votes for nominees who are ideologically proximate to them, qualifications also play a significant role in accounting for the choices Senators make. I. INTRODU CTIO N .................................................................................................... 1146 II. THE CONFIRMATION OF SUPREME COURT JUSTICES: POLITICS VERSUS Q UALIFICATIONS ............................................................................................... 1149 III. QUALIFICATIONS AND THE CONFIRMATION OF SUPREME COURT NOMINEES: O U R STUD Y ....................................................................................................... 1153 A. The Dependent Variable: Confirmation Votes ........................................... 1155 B. An Independent Variable of Primary Interest: Qualifications ................... 1157 C . Ideology ...................................................................................................... 116 1 1. The Ideology of the Nom inee ................................................................ 1161 2. The Ideology of Senators ...................................................................... 1163 3. Comparing the Ideology of Nominees and Senators ............................ 1165 D . Control Variables ....................................................................................... 1166 E. Sum m ary of the M odel ............................................................................... 1167 IV . RESULTS OF THE ANALYSES .............................................................................. 1168 V . D ISCU SSION ....................................................................................................... 1173 * Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor of Political Science and Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis (http://epstein.wustl.edu) (last visited Feb. 7, 2005). We are grateful to the National Science Foundation for sup- porting our research and Andrew D. Martin for offering useful comments. We used R (http://www.R-project.org) (last visited Feb. 7, 2005) and Stata to conduct the analyses and to generate the graphs presented in this Essay. The project's website (http://epstein.wustl.edu/research/qualified.html) (last visited Feb. 7, 2005) houses the database. Please send all correspondence to Lee Epstein. Email: epstein@wustl.edu. Post: Department of Political Science, Washington University, CB 1063, 1 Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130. ** Professor of Political Science at Stony Brook University (http://www.sunysb.edu/ polsciljsegallindexbody.html) (last visited Feb. 7, 2005). *** Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis (http://law.wustl.edu/ Academics/Faculty/Staudt) (last visited Feb. 7, 2005). **** Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Washington University in St. Louis (http://artsci.wustl.edu/-rlindsta) (last visited Feb. 7, 2005). 1145

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