Erwin Chemerinsky's Use Of Ideology

The U.S. Constitution empowers presidents of the United States to appoint individuals to serve on the federal courts; however, there must be consent of the Senate. Founding Father intended to create a system with checks and balances; a principle of separation of power. Throughout the years people have been questioning how much power should Senators have when confirming nominees and how they should go about doing that. This involved what should be taken into consideration, when questioning a nominee should their ideology or qualifications for the job. Ideology is the ideas that are formed from basis of culture, politics, policy, and someone’s own experiences. According to Erwin Chemerinsky, not only should ideology be considered when confirming a nominee, but also when nominating …show more content…
It was seen in the Ginsburg Hearing in 1993, in her opening statement she stated her credentials of 34 years of legal experience as a law teacher, practicing attorney, and federal appellate court jugde.1 Before is asked any questions she informs the Judiciary Committee, ‘a judge is sworn to decide impartially can offer no forecasts, no hints, for that would show not only disregard for the specifics of particular case, it would display disdain for the entire judicial process’ However, Senator questioned her on specific cases, which she foreclosed any discussion of her views on issues raised. This was also shown in the 2009, Sotomayor hearing, where instead of declining to answer questions like Ginsburg, she usually discussed relevant Court precedents, but without offering her views on issues.1 The biggest reason why both nominee’s in this case did not answer directly is because they believe that answering questions about specific cases can hinder, their position if they were confirmed. This shows the importance of ideology, reading that past and current Senates used it for confirming the