Seminar in American Politics: The Politics of Supreme Court Appointments

Appointments to the United States Supreme Court are now central events in American political life. Every vacancy unleashes a bitter struggle between the parties and among organized interests. Then, once the seat is filled, new justices typically vote in highly predictable ways. In this seminar we will review what happened over the last 90 years but also why, with what consequences, and what the future likely holds. Because the story of Supreme Court appointment politics largely reflects the emergence of a new American politics, understanding appointment politics offers a way to understand the new world of American politics.