{ "id": "RL34405", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "number": "RL34405", "active": true, "source": "EveryCRSReport.com, University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "versions": [ { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 425808, "date": "2013-02-11", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T21:23:15.251228", "title": "Role of Home State Senators in the Selection of Lower Federal Court Judges", "summary": "This report examines the role that home state Senators, historically and in the contemporary era, have played in the selection of nominees to U.S. district court and circuit court of appeals judgeships. It also identifies issues that have arisen in recent years over the role of home state Senators in the selection process for federal judges. Report findings include the following:\nSupported by the custom of \u201csenatorial courtesy,\u201d Senators of the President\u2019s party have long played, as a general rule, the primary role in selecting candidates for the President to nominate to district court judgeships in their states. They also have played an influential, if not primary, role in recommending candidates for circuit court judgeships associated with their states. For Senators who are not of the President\u2019s party, a consultative role, with the opportunity to convey to the President their views about candidates under consideration for judgeships in their states, also has been a long-standing practice\u2014and one supported by the \u201cblue slip\u201d procedure of the Senate Judiciary Committee. \nIn recent and many past Congresses, the Judiciary Committee\u2019s blue slip procedure has reinforced Senators\u2019 influence over judicial nominations in their state by permitting nominations to receive committee action only when both home state Senators have returned \u201cpositive\u201d blue slips.\nSenators, in general, exert less influence over the selection of circuit court nominees than they do over district court nominee selection. Whereas home state Senators of the President\u2019s party often dictate whom the President nominates to district judgeships, their recommendations for circuit nominees, by contrast, typically compete with names suggested to the Administration by other sources or generated by the Administration on its own.\nWhether and how a state\u2019s two Senators share in the judicial selection role may depend, to a great extent, on their respective prerogatives, party affiliations, and interests. Senators have great discretion as to the procedures they will use to identify and evaluate judicial candidates, ranging from informally conducting candidate searches on their own to relying on nominating commissions to evaluate candidates. Contact between a Senator\u2019s office and the Administration can be expected to clarify the nature of the Senator\u2019s recommending role, including the degree to which the Administration, in its judicial candidate search, will rely on the Senator\u2019s recommendations.\nIf a President selects a district or circuit court nominee against the advice of, or without consulting, a home state Senator, the latter must decide whether to oppose the nomination (either first in the Senate Judiciary Committee or later on the Senate floor). From the Senator\u2019s standpoint, opposition to the nomination might serve a number of purposes, including helping to prevent confirmation or influencing the Administration to take consultation more seriously in the future. On the other hand, various considerations might influence the Senator not to oppose the nomination, including the desirability of filling the vacant judgeship as promptly as possible, the qualifications of the nominee, and the possibility of better opportunities in the future to exert influence over judicial appointments.\nIn recent years, the role of home state Senators in recommending judicial candidates has given rise to various issues, including the following:\nWhat constitutes \u201cgood faith\u201d or \u201cserious\u201d consultation by the Administration? Should home state Senators always have the opportunity to provide their opinion of a judicial candidate before he or she is nominated? \nHow differently should the Administration treat the input of Senators, depending on their party affiliation? \nWhat prerogatives should home state Senators have in the selection of circuit court nominees?\nShould the policy of the Judiciary Committee allow a home state Senator to block committee consideration of a judicial nominee? Conversely, should the Judiciary Committee and the Senate, as matter of courtesy, approve judicial nominees supported by home state Senators?\nShould home state Senators use commissions to aid them in selecting judicial candidates to recommend to the President?", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/RL34405", "sha1": "5a0b38feafa351ac83e03aa2f0ff820a9b617063", "filename": "files/20130211_RL34405_5a0b38feafa351ac83e03aa2f0ff820a9b617063.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/RL34405", "sha1": "367b1b2e25b72e7704f39dec12d6c0028aef3041", "filename": "files/20130211_RL34405_367b1b2e25b72e7704f39dec12d6c0028aef3041.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 2155, "name": "Judicial Branch Appointments" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc29707/", "id": "RL34405_2010Nov10", "date": "2010-11-10", "retrieved": "2010-12-04T14:26:25", "title": "Role of Home State Senators in the Selection of Lower Federal Court Judges", "summary": "This report examines the role played by Senators in the selection of nominees to two kinds of lower federal court judgeships. Specifically, the judgeships in question, over which Senators have historically played a role in nominee selection, are those (1) in the U.S. district courts lying geographically within the Senators' states and (2) in the U.S. court of appeals circuits of which the Senators' states are a geographic part. This report also discusses several historical and ethical aspects related to Senators recommending judicial candidates.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20101110_RL34405_f25851aa21a07645706f5647a6c3bbf1ff253c95.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20101110_RL34405_f25851aa21a07645706f5647a6c3bbf1ff253c95.html" } ], "topics": [ { "source": "LIV", "id": "Law", "name": "Law" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Judges", "name": "Judges" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Selection of judges", "name": "Selection of judges" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Nominations for office", "name": "Nominations for office" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Congress", "name": "Congress" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Senate", "name": "Senate" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "Courts", "name": "Courts" }, { "source": "LIV", "id": "District courts", "name": "District courts" } ] }, { "source": "University of North Texas Libraries Government Documents Department", "sourceLink": "https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc806445/", "id": "RL34405_2008Mar06", "date": "2008-03-06", "retrieved": "2016-03-19T13:57:26", "title": "Role of Home State Senators in the Selection of Lower Federal Court Judges", "summary": null, "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORT", "active": false, "formats": [ { "format": "PDF", "filename": "files/20080306_RL34405_e2bf39972460cb48562b0b1600fd7a191baa5e73.pdf" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/20080306_RL34405_e2bf39972460cb48562b0b1600fd7a191baa5e73.html" } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "Foreign Affairs" ] }