Number: RL33247
Title: Supreme Court Nominations: Senate Floor Procedure and Practice, 1789-2006
Authors: Richard S.Beth and Betsy Palmer, Government and Finance Division 
Abstract: This report examines the ways in which the Senate has handled the 158 Supreme Court nominations the President has sent to the Senate in the past. As the purpose of this report is to examine the forms taken by Senate proceedings on these 157 nominations, it treats each nomination as a separate case. It is not couched in terms of the smaller number of different individuals nominated or the ultimate outcome the confirmation process may have had for each. Supreme Court confirmation debates, of course, do not occur in a vacuum. They are a product of the President making the choice, the state of the Senate at the time, the nominee and his or her views, and the prevailing mood of the country. These elements, while critical to understanding specific cases, are not considered in this report, and discussions of them can be found in other reports on the Supreme Court. This report focuses on answering a very basic question: what procedures or tools has the Senate used during consideration of Supreme Court nominees, how have they changed over time, and how those tools have affected the confirmation process.
Pages: 40
Date: June 2, 2006