Reexamining the impact of the Bork nomination to the Supreme Court

This research note expands on the work of Guliuzza, Reagan, and Barrett (19 94) by reexamining the impact of the Bork nomination on the confirmation cr iteria that the Senate Judiciary Committee applies to Supreme Court nominee s. In a multivariate analysis we examine empirically whether the Bork nomin ation did, in fact, mark a change in the level of constitutional questions to which the nominees ale subjected. Contrary to Guliuzza et al., we find t hat the Bork nomination did produce a substantively and statistically signi ficant impact on the Committee's probe of the nominees' constitutional view s. However, further study suggests that the extra focus on the judicial phi losophies of Supreme Court nominees by the Judiciary Committee began earlie r, with the first Rehnquist nomination, and that the Bork nomination simply continued this process. Additionally, we find that the level of constituti onal questioning is significantly affected by the individual characteristic s of the nominees (qualification and political closeness to the President) and one element of the political environment-the President's fourth year in office.