Update on Confirmation Process
The following piece is a part of NULR of Note’s “Bring Back The ‘90s” initiative, aimed at exploring the evolution of legal thinking over the past three decades. For more, click here. Writing in 1990, not long after the conclusion of Robert Bork’s Supreme Court confirmation hearings, I noted the growing—although not uncontested—consensus that senators should attempt to shape constitutional meaning by aggressively inquiring about the nominee’s beliefs about interpretive methods, legal philosophy, doctrines, and even specific cases. I lamented…