Boyden Gray on the Judicial Confirmation Process

Boyden's entire piece should be read, but one part that I find particularly interesting is that:

Some have argued Democrats have no choice but to resort to extraordinary measures because President Bush's nominees are exceptionally conservative and ideological. But this claim is disputed by none other than prominent Democratic strategist Prof. Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago Law School. In the Washington Post ("A Bench Tilting Right," 10/30/04), Sunstein and co-author David Schkade explained the outcome of their study of judges appointed by Presidents since John F. Kennedy:

"Remarkably, there are no significant differences among the voting records of Reagan, Bush I and Bush II appointees. The three most recent Republican presidents have shown extraordinary consistency in their choices."

Likewise, AEI's Lott reports that preliminary surveys of lawyers who practice before Circuit Courts found Bush 43 judges were thought to be slightly more liberal than those of both Bush 41 and Reagan. In other words, the current President has not veered dramatically to the right in his nominations; it is rather Senate Democrats who have gone off the liberal deep end.