The Law: Going Outside of the Family: Toward a Greater Understanding of Presidents’ Pursuit of Their Agendas Through Cross‐Party Federal Court Nominations

Abstract

This article explores presidential success at finding nominees outside of their parties who have policy views similar to those of people in their parties, by comparing the voting records of four presidents’ cross‐party–nominated circuit court judges with those of their same‐party–nominated circuit court judges. The results show that most of the presidents examined found cross‐party nominees who voted like their same‐party nominees. This finding suggests that presidents can use cross‐party nominations to make cross‐partisan gestures, confident in their ability to find politically compatible cross‐party nominees. The findings also suggest that cross‐party nominations face shorter confirmation durations in periods of intense Senate obstruction.