Pathways to the US Supreme Court : From the Arena to the Monastery

Pathways to the U.S. Supreme Court is a quantitative-historical recapitulation of the routes taken to the US Supreme Court by the 112 Justices who were confirmed by the Senate and served, and the 28 others whose candidacies for confirmation were defeated, withdrawn, or declined. As the arbiter of the Constitution, it is presumed that the US Supreme Court decrees "the law of the land" in a fair-minded and even-handed manner. Key decisions in the Court's history have challenged these assumptions, giving way to a greater discussion about how judges are chosen, and the ideological roots from which they rule. This book explores more than two centuries of Supreme Court justice selections, tracking the Court's change from a time when consensus choices were relatively evenly divided between political leaders from "the arena," and judges from "the monastery," to a recent era fraught with controversial presidential appointees to federal positions that have yielded ideologically-influenced administrations of law Review: "There are logical reasons why presidents increasingly have turned to the 'judicial monastery' in choosing candidates for our highest courts, breaking with the earlier pattern of drawing from wider life experiences. For years, for the good of the Court and the country, I have urged presidents to cast a wider net. Garrison Nelson brings into sharp focus this trend, the context, and the implications for the Court and the country. His findings could not be more timely or more important."--US Senator Patrick Leahy D-VT, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, and President Pro Tempore "This fascinating, methodologically-inventive book advances our understanding of key issues in American politics. By systematically probing how Supreme Court Justices are selected, by helping understand the types of Justices, and by tracking ideology and voting patterns, Pathways to the Supreme Court offers important insights both into the Court's actions and standing."-Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History, Columbia University, USA "The pathway to the Supreme Court runs directly through the White House and the Senate Chamber. Garrison Nelson has tracked this treacherous course to explain who made it through, why they got there, and how they changed the Court."-Donald A. Ritchie, author of The Oxford Guide to the United States Government and The US Congress: A Very Short Introduction "This is a masterpiece. Garrison Nelson has offers up a compelling and sweeping analysis of the politics and personalities that have shaped the Court. Nelson is the only person who could have written this story. We should all be reading it."-David King, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard University, USA "Garrison Nelson has written an essential book for students of the Court. He combines a fascinating historical treatment of the justices with quantitative analysis to examine the effects of different paths to the Court. No other book combines such historical coverage and such insight about the importance of the different avenues of recruitment to the bench. John Schmidhauser would be proud."-Anthony Champagne, Professor and Director of Pre-Law, University of Texas at Dallas, USA "There are four routes to the Supreme Court-collateral, diagonal, vertical, and external. That is Garrison Nelson's analytic framework in this work stretching across two centuries of Court history. The book is loaded with fascinating information about where the justices have come from, why, and so what. As always, Nelson is sure-footed and meticulous."-David Mayhew, Sterling Professor of Political Science, Yale University, USA Front Matter....Pages i-xiii Introduction: Whither the Supreme Court?....Pages 1-6 Building Supreme Courts....Pages 7-46 The Arena and the Monastery: Four Career Paths to the Supreme Court....Pages 47-75 Court Paths and Confirmation Patterns....Pages 77-111 From Consensus to Conflict, 1937–2010....Pages 113-155 How Courts Change....Pages 157-186 Presidential Court Changers....Pages 187-222 Stormy Weather Ahead....Pages 223-241 Back Matter....Pages 243-340