The confirmation process for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Connie Barrett is set to begin Monday.
It is part of an intense process where judicial nominees answer both written and personal questions in the hope of approval by the Senate. Here’s how that process works in general.
Hearing before my Connie Barrett to start ykte. RE PID Practices as 12 Senate Ramps
Background check
The Senate Judiciary Committee conducts an extensive investigation before holding a hearing on the nominee. According to the Congressional Research Service, this usually includes a questionnaire with biographical, professional and financial information. On top of this, the FBI conducts a background check and submits a confidential report to the committee. The American Bar Association also has a practice of rating federal judicial nominees with the mark of Well Qualified, Qualified, or Not Qualified and notifying the committee of their decision.
In addition to the process, Supreme Court nominees also meet privately with senators to discuss their appointments.
Committee hearing
The next step is a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which often lasts four or five days. During the hearing, a nominee testifies on their own behalf and other witnesses will likely testify in support of or against her nomination. Senators usually ask questions related to past decisions announced as judges, political views that they can express that relate to related judicial issues, their overall judicial and constitutional philosophy and any questionable aspects of their background.
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In addition to their answers at the hearing, the nominee also gives written answers for the record, the senator may present them in writing in response to additional questions.
Since 1992, nominees have sat with the committee for close-door sessions, specifically to answer sensitive questions that may arise from their confidential background check report.
Committee recommendation
Following the conclusion of the hearing, the committee votes on the nominee and decides whether to recommend nominations for the full Senate. If no nominee is recommended by the committee, they can still be confirmed by the full Senate. The Justice Committee split 7-7 over whether to recommend him and then Justice Clarence Thomas confirmed despite voting 13-1 to send his nomination to the Senate without any recommendation.
Senate debate and vote
Following the vote of the Senate Judiciary Committee, nominations are made to the full Senate. Senators then participate in a debate on nominations on the Senate floor before voting to end the debate. Until recently, the Senate needed 60 senators to vote to end the debate, but the Senate changed the rules in 2017 to require only a simple majority.
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After the Senate votes to end the debate, they vote on whether to endorse the candidate. A simple majority is needed to uphold justice in the Supreme Court.
