A Short History of Confirmation Politics

The Constitution lets presidents nominate justices with Senate advice and consent, and confirmations have been political from the start. The Senate rejected John Rutledge in 1795, defeated Parker in 1930, blocked Fortas in 1968, and rejected Bork in 1987 after intense national debate over judicial philosophy.

Recent confirmations have frequently been nearly party-line votes, and the events of 2016 and 2020 intensified the cycle further. Life tenure plus the power of a single swing vote keeps vacancies among the highest-stakes battles in Washington.

The process reflects a simple structural fact: the Court is powerful, so control of its membership matters..