The Confirmation Process and a Senatorial Norm: Historical Quantification and Analysis of the Senate Blue Slip Process
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Date
2009-03
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
Since the early 1900s the senatorial norm of the blue slip has played a role in the confirmation process of federal district and appeals court judges. However, historical analyses of this norm have been largely descriptive in nature (Denning 2002; Sollenberger 2003b; Binder 2007) or have not explicitly gathered data on the actual blue slips in existing quantitative work (Binder & Maltzman 2002). This project offers an empirical analysis of the blue slip’s impact on the duration of the confirmation process. Whereas previous work has focused on the use of the blue slip as a negative tool to defeat or delay a nominee, here it is tested whether the blue slip has also functioned as a positive tool to support a nominee. This analysis was accomplished by cataloging the blue slips found in the judicial nomination files from 1953 to 1958 on a five-point scale that not only reflects whether the senator was supportive of or objecting to a nominee, but also the amount or strength of that support. Three stages of the confirmation process are examined – time to hearing, committee vote, and floor vote. Finally, a theoretical explanation for why the blue slip underwent a modification in its use in 1956 is briefly examined.
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Keywords
federal confirmation process, federal judges, interbranch politics, Senate Judiciary Committee, blue slip, Senate norms