Judicial Appointments Bush's Judicial Appointments

An Examination of President George W. Bush's Judicial Appointments

During the eight years of his presidency George W. Bush appointed two Supreme Court justices, 61 Appeals Court judges, and 261 Federal District Court judges. Judicial appointments can be one of a president's longest lasting legacies. The people President Bush named to the judiciary will be making decisions and affecting policy long after he leaves office. Courts today, especially the Supreme Court and appeals courts, make policy that has just as much of an impact on Americans' lives as do the laws that Congress passes. President Bush recognized this fact and took his power to appoint judges very seriously.

According to Christopher Miles (2010) it is hard to know exactly how the nomination process worked in the White House because those involved in the process have remained relatively silent; however some details have come to light. In the Bush administration, a group called the Judicial Selection Committee (JSC) met twice weekly or as needed to discuss judicial appointments. The JSC consisted of Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh, the Office of Legal Policy, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales, and Associate White House Counsel Brett Kavanaugh. A different group composed of higher level administration officials has also been mentioned as meeting to discuss judicial appointments. This group consisted of the White House Counsel's Office, White House Chief of Staff, Attorney General, and presidential advisor Karl Rove.

It is also clear that President Bush himself was very involved in the process. Presidential approval...

Furthermore, Bush made a number of changes to the judicial nominating process when he took office. The new president ejected the American Bar Association (ABA) from the screening process, ending its half-century role of reviewing candidates' credentials before a nomination. In previous administrations, the ABA had been told that someone was being nominated before the information was given to the general public. This gave the ABA the chance to do their own investigation of the nominee, which could then be used during Senate confirmation hearings. Bush turned to lawyers who had been on Ronald Reagan's judicial selection team to help seek out prominent conservative thinkers. Joan Biskupic (2008) contends that Bush was trying to emulate Reagan, whose conservative mark on the bench has been deep and enduring.
Like their predecessors the Bush administration drew a clear distinction between district court and appeals court judicial appointments. While they might be willing to settle for district court nominees they were not fully in favor of, appeals court judges received much more scrutiny. This was for a number of reasons. District court judges essentially take the law or case precedent and apply it whatever the facts of the case they are deciding. Appeals courts deal with the much more complicated questions where the law or precedents are not that clear. The appeals court is a good stepping stone to the Supreme Court. All of the current justices on the Supreme Court have served on appeals courts and it…