Why judicial-confirmation battles keep getting more vicious

National Review ^ | September 25, 2018 | John R Lott Jr

[richardb72]

Judicial confirmations have become a blood sport. Wasn’t it just weeks ago at John McCain’s funeral that Democrats were calling for more civility in politics? We never used to fight so much over Supreme Court nominations.

Eighty-seven justices were nominated between 1789 and 1950, and the time from nomination to Senate vote averaged just over eleven days. But this changed dramatically over the next half century. From 1951 through 1975, the average confirmation process increased to more than 50 days. Between 1976 and the present, it has averaged at least 75 days (the average rises to 90 days if we count Merrick Garland, whose nomination lapsed after a new Congress was seated in 2017, though it could be argued that his nomination was rejected immediately).

Democrats have opposed Brett Kavanaugh both times that he has been considered for a judgeship. When he was nominated to the D.C. Circuit Court in 2003, his confirmation battle lasted 1,036 days. There were no allegations of sexual misconduct that caused that delay.

Kavanaugh’s circuit-court confirmation battle was the seventh-longest of the 366 that occurred from the beginning of Carter’s administration through to the end of Obama’s. Bill Clinton’s circuit-court confirmation averaged 231 days, George W. Bush’s 362, and Obama’s 278.

Democrats are hoping to delay Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation until after the November election. If Democrats win control of the Senate, they would then vote down the nomination. Democrats may have had information of Kavanaugh’s supposed sexual behavior when he was 17 since July; by raising it now, after the hearings and just days before the scheduled Judiciary Committee vote, they have timed it to delay the process.

Kavanaugh’s résumé is stellar. He attended Yale Law School and clerked for the Supreme Court. He has taught at Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown law schools. The Supreme Court has frequently adopted his reasoning on a variety of issues.

Despite Democratic claims, he is not a radical who will overturn decisions such as Roe v. Wade. Kavanaugh was a consistent follower of precedent when he was on the D.C. Circuit Court. While the Supreme Court can overrule its own precedent, Kavanaugh has co-authored a hefty 942-page book on precedent, titled “Law of Judicial Precedent.” The book seeks to formally describe rules for when courts should follow precedent, and it makes clear that jettisoning precedent is not something that Kavanaugh takes lightly.

But the opposition has always been so fierce precisely because Kavanaugh is so qualified. Democrats don’t just fear his judicial philosophy — they also fear him because he is smart....

[lepton]

Bill Clinton’s circuit-court confirmation averaged 231 days, George W. Bush’s 362, and Obama’s 278.
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Hey. Why isn’t that linear? I think we know.