2024 Research in the Capitol

Presentation Type

Open Access Poster Presentation

Abstract

Supreme Court confirmation hearings in the Senate have heightened stakes in today's political environment. The public stands at attention while Senators engage in questions and dialogue with the nominees. With increased stakes after the 2016 removal of the filibuster, Senators are in a prominent position to demonstrate their opposition to a nominee during the hearing. This study shows how Senators have quantitatively changed their tactics since 2016. I show this by examining the transcripts of the six most recent hearings (Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh). I was able to show that opposition Senators engage in significantly more back-and-forth with the nominees now, and that Democrats in the Gorsuch and Kavanagh hearings increased the number of questions they ask to nominees as a reaction to the ignoring of Merrick Garland’s nomination in 2016. This study offers a unique and novel perspective on a complicated political process.

Start Date

25-3-2024 11:45 AM

End Date

25-3-2024 1:30 PM

Event Host

University Honors Programs, Iowa Regent Universities

Faculty Advisor

Donna Hoffman

Department

Department of Political Science

Department

Social Science

File Format

application/pdf

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Mar 25th, 11:45 AM Mar 25th, 1:30 PM

Senatorial Behavior in Recent Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings

Supreme Court confirmation hearings in the Senate have heightened stakes in today's political environment. The public stands at attention while Senators engage in questions and dialogue with the nominees. With increased stakes after the 2016 removal of the filibuster, Senators are in a prominent position to demonstrate their opposition to a nominee during the hearing. This study shows how Senators have quantitatively changed their tactics since 2016. I show this by examining the transcripts of the six most recent hearings (Roberts, Alito, Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh). I was able to show that opposition Senators engage in significantly more back-and-forth with the nominees now, and that Democrats in the Gorsuch and Kavanagh hearings increased the number of questions they ask to nominees as a reaction to the ignoring of Merrick Garland’s nomination in 2016. This study offers a unique and novel perspective on a complicated political process.