From 1986: Judge Antonin Scalia confirmation hearing: Part 1 https://t.co/QFWs020t3W Part 2 https://t.co/BZSzhxqmyv pic.twitter.com/r0ukH9v1PH
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 13, 2016
Article 2, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution provides that the President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint … Judges of the supreme Court…” In the coming months, the eyes of the country, and indeed the world, will be on President Obama as he is tasked with filling the vacancy created by Justice Scalia’s passing.
These confirmation hearings can be a great source of information about a Justice’s judicial philosophy in his or her own words. The U.S. Senate website has confirmation hearings dating back to 1971 (Lewis F. Powell Jr.) and Congress.gov has confirmation hearings back to 1981 (Sandra Day O’Connor).
The collections found on Congress.gov and the Senate’s website, however, are confined to successful nominees (including Justice Scalia). For unsuccessful nominees (which, let’s face it, are often even more interesting than the justices who were confirmed), the Library of Congress has posted hearings back to 1968 (Homer Thornberry). If you are looking to kill some time, the contentious confirmation hearings for Reagan nominee Robert Bork are particularly interesting. For successful and unsuccessful confirmation hearings in print, visit the 9th floor of the library (KF8744.J8): The Supreme Court of the United States : hearings and reports on successful and unsuccessful nominations of Supreme Court Justices by the Senate Judiciary Committee, 1916-2010.
For an additional wealth of information on U.S. Supreme Court nominees and the nomination process, check out HeinOnline’s History of Supreme Court Nominations database. Contents include Congressional Documents, biographies, bibliographies and scholarly articles related to Supreme Court Nominees.
If you familiarize yourself with the nomination and confirmation process now, you will have an even better appreciation for the process that is about to play out in the coming months. Happy reading!
