SIDEBAR - Supreme Court Appointment Process

Supreme Court of the United States

While the U.S. Constitution assigns explicit roles in the Supreme Court appointment process only to the President and the Senate, the Senate Judiciary Committee, throughout much of the nation's history, has also played an important, intermediary role. From 1816, when the Judiciary Committee was created, until 1868, more than two-thirds of nominations to the Supreme Court were referred to the committee, in each case by motion. In 1868, the Senate determined, as a general rule, that all nominations should automatically be referred to appropriate standing committees. Since then, all but seven Supreme Court nominations, with the most recent being in 1941, have been referred to the Judiciary Committee.

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