Every Nominee a Fight
By Kristi Kastrounis, 02.23.06

“How did these appointees define presidential administrations? Well-it proves that no administration is smart enough to know everything about an appointee,” said Craig Hastings, a veteran lawyer. “You never know how they are going to turn out.”

President’s are often criticized for electing justice's that will carry out the president's policies throughout their life term, even when the president has long been out of office. A justice's interpretations of the Constitution while serving on the Supreme Court influences laws that affect the American public.

As a part of the “unwritten Constitution,” there are nine coveted spots in the highest branch of the U. S. judicial system. Appointment by the president to serve on the highest judicial court for life is no small promotion; particularly when justice appointments are often how presidents are remembered.

The Reagan administration was a Presidential term that was crucial to the development of the Supreme Court.

“You have to go back to Reagan, because Reagan and the ‘Reagan Revolution,’ appointed all the conservative justices,” Hastings said. “Then some of his [Reagan’s] justices got on the Supreme Court and they turned out to be different than the president thought.”

Supreme Court's liberal and conservative tendencies have been like a "roller-coaster throughout history," said Jonathon Douglas, a history teacher and political scientist.

Douglas used the election of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor the first woman on the Supreme Court as an example.

"When Reagan elected Sandra Day O'Connor, he thought that she would uphold his 'Reagan Revolution' much more than she really did," Douglas said.

Justice O'Connor has been an influential nomination in defining the Reagan administration, Douglas said. He added that O'Connor has defined only a portion of Reagan's judicial presidency.

"Sandra Day O'Connor turned out to vote much more liberal than Reagan thought she'd vote," he said. "She wasn't as strongly conservative as they thought she was when they first nominated her.

James Rice, a first year law student said President Bush’s nominations of John Roberts, Harriet Miers, and Samuel A. Alito, will be how the Bush administration will be remembered.

“I think Bush will be remembered for Harriet Miers nomination in particular, because no one saw that one coming,” Rice said. “Bush will be remembered as someone that never made a decision by the polls, and Harriet Miers’ nomination proved that.”

Regarding the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts, on Sept. 29, 2005, Rice said that he was supportive of President Bush’s nomination.

“I like Roberts, I think he is a good choice,” Rice said. “Everyone will remember Bush’s term because of Roberts. The goal of Bush is to interpret the law, not make the law, and I think he is doing that in appointing Roberts.”

Although supreme court appointments define a president’s legacy it is not always clear if judges will consistently promote a presidents political agenda.

Hastings says that predicting how a Supreme Court nominee is going to vote before they actually vote is complicated. “One of the impacts that we’ve seen over time-is that every nominee is a fight” he said.

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