Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Some of the most recent work on the topic of divided government and judicial selection has focused on the use of delay as a tactic to defeating or frustrating presidential nominations to the federal courts. Less is known, however, about the actual policy outputs of judges selected under these conditions. In this paper, I analyze the career voting behavior of circuit court judges appointed by President Reagan and President Clinton and account for the level of senatorial opposition and whether the president confronts an opposition (party) chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time of the judge's appointment. I found no support across both the Reagan and Clinton models for the hypothesis that these appointment factors will be reflected through the course of the circuit judge's career voting behavior and, thus, that they actually influence the types of judges ultimately appointed.