Progressive openness transformed judicial confirmation into public politics

Evidence

Before 1913, senators were elected by state legislatures, thus limiting their accountability to the general public. And until the 1920s, Senate deliberations on prospective justices nominees were secret. Nominees did not testify, and they were confirmed or rejected without a roll-call vote, so it was impossible to know how individual senators had voted. Now, however, nominees testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee in public hearings, as do groups and individuals supporting or opposing the nominee. Since 1982, when President Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor to the Court, the hearings and final confirmation votes have been televised. This opening up of the process has made it easier for groups to mobilize opinion for or against nominees, as occurred during the Bork confirmation battle, and to influence votes on confirmation by pledging to hold senators electorally accountable. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 544

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to how transparency reforms across government institutions (like FOIA history) empower interest-group mobilization. — connects to: Judicial selection systems reflect successive eras of political reform since 1789 — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 407; Judicial independence from short-run politics drives public acceptance of rulings — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 3291; Merit selection transforms rather than removes politics from judicial selection — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 439 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Open Supreme Court confirmation hearings empowered interest groups to influence them #exemplifies (0.92) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 544
• Merit selection transforms rather than removes politics from judicial selection #qualifies (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 439
• Publicizing information itself became the method of modern political rule #expands (0.80) — Timothy Mitchell, Colonising Egypt, 309
• Judicial nominees must satisfy both confirmability and ideological expectations #expands (0.80) — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 361
• Judicial independence from short-run politics drives public acceptance of rulings #complicates (0.78) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 3291