Premium
Shaping the Federal Courts: The O bama Nominees
Author(s) -
Kimel T. J.,
Randazzo Kirk A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/j.1540-6237.2012.00916.x
Subject(s) - bama , ideology , typology , politics , nominate , political science , constitution , fell , law , sociology , paleontology , biochemistry , chemistry , statistics , mathematics , escherichia coli , bacterial outer membrane , anthropology , biology , gene
Objectives The objective of this study is to explore President O bama's nominations to the lower federal courts and compare his patterns to those from G eorge W. B ush and W illiam J efferson C linton using a typology established by G oldman in 1997. Methods Using data from 1993 to 2012 provided by the A merican Constitution Society for Law and Policy, we examine a series of cross‐tabulations to make our comparisons. Results The data indicate that President O bama has nominated more women and minorities to the federal bench than either of his two immediate predecessors. Additionally, his nominees possess more moderate ideological preferences than the nominees from either B ush or C linton. Conclusions These results demonstrate that O bama seems more concerned with racial and gender diversity rather than ideological preferences. Therefore, President O bama's claims of pragmatism and his desire to nominate individuals who reflect American society, often doubted by both political supporters and detractors, appear supported by the available data.