Presidential Appointment, Research Paper Example

The Judicial Appointments of President George W. Bush: A Brief Analysis

According to J. Biskupic, not long after his inauguration, President George W. Bush made it known to the American public that he was instituting a “systematic, aggressive and tightly-controlled approach to making lifetime appointments” to numerous federal judicial positions, including a new conservative judge to the U.S. Supreme Court. Bush also announced that the American Bar Association would not be playing a major role in the screening process; instead, Bush “turned to lawyers who had been on Ronald Reagan’s judicial selection team to help seek out prominent conservative thinkers” (2008). Clearly, President Bush was attempting to have as many conservative judges appointed to various federal positions as possible, due to knowing that a majority of the members of the ABA are liberal minded. Bush was also attempting to influence the outcomes of future federal judicial decisions by stacking the deck against judges that usually make decisions based on liberal ideals and principles.

Bush’s first major appointments to the United States Supreme Court included John Roberts and Samuel Alito, both of whom are widely known as staunch conservatives and served as conservative judges during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan in the 1980’s. Exactly why Bush decided to appoint these two men to the Supreme Court is twofold–first, Roberts and Alito are relatively young men which guarantees that their decisions will influence the legal system for many years to come, and second, Roberts and Alito are considered as very conservative thinkers and within the areas of civil rights and basic American liberties “are clearly the most conservative on record” when compared to Supreme Court judges appointed by Presidents Reagan and George Bush, Sr. (Carp, Manning, & Stidham, 2004, p. 28).

For the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, President Bush appointed four conservatives–Rogers Brown, Brett Kavanaugh, Thomas Griffith, and prior to his Supreme Court appointment, John Roberts. As Biskupic notes, out of these four appointees, Rogers Brown is by far the most conservative and controversial, due to being “a bold advocate of property rights and an opponent of affirmative action” (2008). Therefore, like his Supreme Court appointees, Bush was attempting to influence the outcomes of future appeals court decisions by appointing conservative judges; also, the ages of these appointees, ranging from 43 to 58, indicates a long-term influence on appeals court decisions, especially related to lawsuits against major corporations and other “big business” entities.

President Bush also appointed two staunch conservatives to the 5th District Court that covers the states of Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana–Priscilla Owen, “a former Texas Supreme Court justice and longtime friend of former Bush advisers Karl Rove,” and Charles Pickering. As might be expected, Senate Democrats strongly resisted the appointments of Owen and Pickering, but in the end, Owens was appointed for life at the age of 53 (Biskupic, 2008). For Bush, this was a great accomplishment, due to Owen’s conservative views on abortion and women’s rights in general.

Overall, President Bush’s judicial appointees are seen by most Democrats and liberals as ultra-conservative in the areas of minority and women’s rights, the environment, and personal privacy. Thus, it is clear that President Bush was aiming for sympathy and support for his own political values and attitudes (Carp, Manning, & Stidham, 2004, p. 21) which obviously will endure far into the future as a direct result of his appointment of these and many other conservative judges.

References

Biskupic, J. (2008). Bush’s conservatism to live long in the US courts. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2008-03-13-judges_N.htm

Carp, R.A., Manning, K.L., & Stidham, R. (2004). The decision-making behavior of George W. Bush’s judicial appointees. Judicare (88)1: 20-28. Retrieved from http://www.umassd.edu/media/umassdartmouth/politicalscience/facultydocs/klmjudic04.pdf