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"Holds" and Private Political Fights
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“Holds” and Private Political Fights
Amy Steigerwalt
University of New Orleans
2000 Lakeshore Drive
New Orleans, LA 70148
## email not listed ##
Abstract
This paper examines what can happen to judicial confirmations once they receive home-
state senator approval and start down the road to confirmation. It begins by exploring the different ways in which judicial confirmations may be delayed once they reach the Senate. This paper then turns its attention to a key mechanism of delay, the use of “holds” placed on confirmations once they reach the Senate floor by individual senators. This paper begins its analysis of the “hold” by examining the historical use of holds and its present-day incarnation, and it ends by investigating all holds that have been applied to Circuit Court nominees between 1987-2002 (100
th
-107
th
Congresses), and assessing their application as well as the underlying
reason for each usage. Strikingly, it finds that much of the delay and obstruction which mark the modern-day lower court confirmation process is not due to ideological opposition but rather is a function of nominees being used as bargaining tools in unrelated disputes.
Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Political Science
Association, Chicago, Illinois, September 2-5, 2004.
The author would like to thank Robert Kagan, Casey Dominguez, Justin Buchler, Matthew
Jarvis, Keith Smith, John McNulty, Megan Mullin, Margaret Carne, Melinda Gann Hall, and
Nancy Scherer for their comments and advice on this paper.
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| | Authors: Steigerwalt, Amy. |
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1
“Holds” and Private Political Fights
Amy Steigerwalt
University of New Orleans
2000 Lakeshore Drive
New Orleans, LA 70148
## email not listed ##
Abstract
This paper examines what can happen to judicial confirmations once they receive home-
state senator approval and start down the road to confirmation. It begins by exploring the
different ways in which judicial confirmations may be delayed once they reach the Senate. This
paper then turns its attention to a key mechanism of delay, the use of “holds” placed on
confirmations once they reach the Senate floor by individual senators. This paper begins its
analysis of the “hold” by examining the historical use of holds and its present-day incarnation,
and it ends by investigating all holds that have been applied to Circuit Court nominees between
1987-2002 (100
th
-107
th
Congresses), and assessing their application as well as the underlying
reason for each usage. Strikingly, it finds that much of the delay and obstruction which mark the
modern-day lower court confirmation process is not due to ideological opposition but rather is a
function of nominees being used as bargaining tools in unrelated disputes.
Paper prepared for presentation at the annual meeting of the American Political Science
Association, Chicago, Illinois, September 2-5, 2004.
The author would like to thank Robert Kagan, Casey Dominguez, Justin Buchler, Matthew
Jarvis, Keith Smith, John McNulty, Megan Mullin, Margaret Carne, Melinda Gann Hall, and
Nancy Scherer for their comments and advice on this paper.
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