Speed of Presidential and Senate Actions on Supreme Court Nominations, 1900-2005

Publication Date: October 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Government

Type:

Abstract:

The speed with which appointments to the Supreme Court move through various stages in the nomination-and-confirmation process is often of great interest to all parties directly involved and the nation as a whole. Shortly after President George W. Bush's October 3, 2005, announcement of White House Counsel Harriet E. Miers as his nominee to replace Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the Court, both the President and the majority leader of the Senate advocated that the Senate should vote on her nomination "by Thanksgiving" (i.e., within 52 days of the announcement). Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter stated that he would like to see confirmation hearings on the nomination concluded by Thanksgiving.

This report provides information on the amount of time taken to act on all Supreme Court nominations occurring between 1900 and the present. It focuses on the actual amounts of time that Presidents and the Senate have taken to act (as opposed to the elapsed time between official points in the process). For example, rather than starting the nomination clock with the official notification of the President of a forthcoming vacancy (e.g., via receipt of a formal retirement letter), this report focuses on when the President first learned of a Justice's intention to leave the Court (e.g., via a private conversation with the outgoing Justice), or received word that a sitting Justice had died. Likewise, rather than starting the confirmation clock with the transmission of the official nomination to the Senate, this report focuses on when the Senate became aware of the President's selection (e.g., via a public announcement by the President).

The data indicate that the entire nomination-and-confirmation process (from when the President first learned of a vacancy to final Senate action) has generally taken almost twice as long for nominees after 1980 than for nominees in the previous 80 years. From 1900 to 1980, the entire process took a median of 59 days; from 1981 through 2005, the process took a median of 113 days. Although Presidents after 1980 have moved more quickly than their predecessors in announcing nominees after learning of vacancies (a median of 18 days compared with 34 days before 1980), the Senate portion of the process (i.e., from the nomination announcement to final Senate action) now appears to take much longer than before (a median of 84 days from 1981 through 2005, compared with 28 days from 1900 through 1980). Most notably, the amount of time between the nomination announcement and first Judiciary Committee hearing has more than tripled -- from a median of 13 days (1900-1980) to 51 days (1981-2005). These data suggest that, if recent past experience is a guide, it may be difficult for the Senate to complete action on the Miers nomination by Thanksgiving. However, there is substantial variation within these summary statistics; every nomination has its own pace. For example, Senate consideration of the nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsberg in 1993 took 50 days after the presidential announcement. If the Miers nomination followed that pace, Senate action could be completed by Thanksgiving.

This report will be updated as new information becomes available.