How Are Supreme Court Judges Appointed, and Why Has the Process Become so Politically Controversial?

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The process is started by the President nominating a replacement to the vacant seat on the supreme court. A Supreme Court nomination is regarded as one of the most important decisions made in a Presidency. This is because the supreme court is referred to as “the echo-chamber” of previous Presidents, given justices are appointed for life. Because of this, Presidents will appoint justices with similar jurisprudence, their specific ideological views on the law, an example of this would be the appointment of Antonin Scalia, a strict-constructionist, by Ronald Reagan in 1986. Scalia is currently seen as the most conservative on the court. The Presidential nomination can be seen as politically controversial mainly due to the fact that the supreme court is supposed to be ‘the adjudicator’ rather than a political body, however justices are mainly chosen on political beliefs, not judicial qualifications. The Senate judiciary committee then holds hearings where it will question the nominee and hold a non-binding vote on whether to recommend the nominee to the Senate. The SJC was created in the 1980’s to question candidates and to discover their judicial beliefs and philosophies. However, Clarence Thomas, who went through the Senate hearings in October 1991 described them as a ‘high-tech lynching’. Thomas was called back before the committee to answer questions of sexual harassment against a former employee. This can be seen as politically controversial as it can be seen more as political point-scoring and attempting to embarrass or make the nominee look good rather than real questioning of the nominees judicial beliefs and philosophies. Finally, a vote comes from the Senate floor to confirm or veto the candidate for a seat on the court. This can be achieved by a simple majority. The Senate has vetoed nominations, such as Robert Bork in 1987, where the mainly liberal
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