Focus Questions:
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1. What does this cartoon suggest about public engagement with the judicial nomination process?
2. After the Seventeenth Amendment was passed and ratified by the states (1913), U.S. Senators were directly elected to Congress. How do you think direct election affected the Senate's advice and consent role in judicial nominations?
3. Why do you think the Framers initially chose to protect the judicial selection process from the type of "direct democracy" represented by "American Idol"?
4. Do you think that the use of a device such as the filibuster, which allows minority voices in the Senate to block confirmation of judicial nominees, is consistent with the Framers intent to protect judicial selection from "direct democracy"? Why?
Resources
- Cloture Attempts on Nominations: CRS Report for Congress, April 22, 2005
- Direct Election of Senators
- Filibuster Precedent? Democrats Point to '68 and Fortas
- NPR Coverage of Judicial Filibusters
- Pew Research Center for the People and the Press: Disengaged Public Leans Against Changing Filibuster Rules
- Taking Issue: Two Views on Judicial Filibuster, In Defense of the Filibuster and No More Obstruction
