Sara M. Schiavoni

Focuses in detail on the selection and confirmation processes of lower federal court judges during President Obama’s first term and documents the unprecedented levels of obstruction and delay as well as the unprecedented success, despite all the obstacles, of diversifying the federal bench.

Documents Barack Obama’s stunning achievement of promoting gender, ethnic, and racial diversity on the federal bench, including two Supreme Court appointments; the authors contend that this positive outcome is counterbalanced by a slow and problematic nominations process and partisan obstructionism resulting in relatively small numbers of confirmations.

Argues that George W. Bush and his administration’s judicial legacy, which included the appointment of like-minded conservative justices to the Supreme Court and lower courts, was highly politicized and, in the end, very successful.

Re-examines Segal’s depiction of a Separation of Powers model by which the Supreme Court sets policy first and then awaits policy reversals from the president and Congress. The model Schiavoni and Groseclose introduce was later used by Segal to re-calculate his empirical estimates.

Identifies previously undetected influences on judicial decision-making, including a strong interaction between gender and political party; the influence of prior experience representing management clients under the National Labor Relations Act; and associations based on race, religion, and educational background.