Political selection fills the courts with judges holding established partisan views

Evidence

As noted in Chapter 3, judicial selection is a political process. Presidents typically nominate members of their own political party for federal judgeships, and they inquire into potential nominees’ legal and political views, especially before filling vacancies on the Supreme Court. Politics also affects judicial selection in the states. Partisan election systems, of course, reward loyal and active party members. Political considerations also affect gubernatorial appointments, even when governors are choosing judges under the process of “merit selection.” Given the extensive political backgrounds of those who become judges, they tend to bring to the bench consistent and long-established political views. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2571

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Party influence on judges works through shared values, not direct commands — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 605; Legislative election structurally favors former legislators for judgeships — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 385; Impending elections make trial judges sentence criminal defendants more harshly — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 431 (+33 more)

Broader Connections

• Judges bring consistent long-established political views to the bench #corroborates (0.95) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 2572
• Judges act as temporally extended representatives of their appointing party. #expands (0.90)
• Judges’ politics, gender, and family shape their rulings empirically #corroborates (0.80)
• Collegiality only marginally shifts judges’ settled votes #corroborates (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1338