Discuss the role that partisanship plays in appointing and confirming judges.
What will be an ideal response?
The ideal answer should include:
1. All federal judges, including Supreme Court justices, are nominated to the bench by the president and must be confirmed by the Senate. Judges almost always are selected on a party basis, usually as a reward for their political services.
2. Adding to a president's problems is that, due to the custom of senatorial courtesy, many of these nominees require the consent of their home-state senators.
3. Some scholars have argued that Democrats Clinton and Obama stressed diversity over ideology, often picking moderate minority and female judges that did not necessarily reflect the presidents' own political philosophies. On the other hand, Republican presidents are more ideological, with conservative credentials given priority over diversity in filling judicial vacancies.
4. Confirmations of judges and, especially, justices are very political and can be very contentious. Example: Merrick Garland.
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Brazilian politicians who use their charisma to mobilize their constituents are known as
a. populist politicians. b. patrimonial politicians. c. independent politicians. d. personalist politicians. e. clientelist politicians.
President George Washington ignored the "importance of facilitating the circulation of political intelligence and information through the press."
Indicate whether the statement is true or false.
What is executive privilege?
a. the ability of the president to refuse to spend money appropriated by Congress b. the ability of the president to veto programmatic requests in a bill c. the power of the president to declare war or initiate a police action d. the implied power of the president to keep communications confidential
Public policies may only be enacted by Congress
Indicate whether the statement is true or false