Confirmation hearings, then and now

For members of the Senate Judiciary Committee -- and for many of the veteran journalists squeezed into the Hart Senate Office Building today -- the Kagan hearing is proceeding pretty much like other confirmation debates always have. If anything, the only difference so far is that there are a few less fireworks this time around (so far, at least).

But this hearing would seem very foreign to a lawmaker or reporter who worked on Capitol Hill 75 years ago. For starters, nominees haven't always been required to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The first hearings at which a Supreme Court nominee actually testified in person were Justice Harlan Stone's in 1925.

Confirmation hearings also haven't always been open to the public. They regularly held behind closed doors until the 1940s.
The first hearings to be broadcast in total on C-SPAN were Sandra Day O'Connor's in 1981.

The entire confirmation process also takes much longer in the modern era than it did early in the nation's history. According to the Congressional Research Service, between 1789 and 1966, it took a Supreme Court nominee about 10 days to be confirmed once his nomination had been received by the Senate. Between 1966 and now? Seven times as long -- a median of 69 days.

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Pat, Boston, MA

Interesting info on confirmation hearings. Here's a little bit more I found for those interested -

Eisenhower appointed Warren to the Supreme Court on September 30, 1953, which was just five days before the Court's term began. He replaced Chief Justice Frederick Vinson, who died on September 8, 1953. Warren didn't have formal confirmation hearings at that time because the Senate was in recess. His formal confirmation wasn't until March 1954.

The Supreme Court shifted away from its focus on property rights to personal rights when Chief Justice Earl Warren took over the court in 1953. Prior to the Warren Court a majority of the cases centered around building a foundation for property law.

That all changed with the Warren court's first landmark case—Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, which opened the battle for school desegregation. After working hard to get a unanimous ruling in that case, Warren continued to work his magic to lead the court in a series of cases that guaranteed numerous personal rights, which primarily focused on the Bill of Rights.

Wiki:

George Washington appointed the most justices; he obviously had an edge over the other Presidents because he was in office when the Court was created.

Four US Presidents did not appoint any Supreme Court justices:

William H. Harrison
Zachary Taylor
Andrew Johnson
Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter is the only President of the four who served a full term.

William Howard Taft is the only person in US History to serve as both President of the United States and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

Best wishes to Elena Kagan. This is quite an honor for her.

1 vote

#1 - Tue Jun 29, 2010 12:17 PM EDT

Eric, Salinas, CA

Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings are turning into a rightwing circus of petty partisan lies. The corrupt conservatives are worried about her beingr Liberal activist judge yet have no problems with their four corrupt radical subversive conservative activistsupreme court jesters who routinely legislate from the bench to aid their corrupt party of sore losers. Huffy Jeffy Sessions and his lisping LogCabin repugnant one voice doesn't deserve to shine Kagan's shoes much less ask her questions. Elena Kagan is making fools out of the repugnant ones questioning her and she will be confirmed as our next Supreme Court Justice.