 POLITICS IS EVERYWHERE
Using the American Judicature Society’s website, click through a few different states on their map to determine how judges are selected for different courts.
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| 1. How are judges selected in your state? Is the selection process the same across your state, or does it vary across counties or towns? |
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| 2. How does the judicial process in your state differ from the judicial selection processes of another state? |
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| 3. What process do you think is best? Why? |
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 POLITICS IS CONFLICTUAL
Watch the second part of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s interview on the Daily Show.
Sandra Day O'Connor Pt. 2
The Daily Show with John Stewart
Comedy Central
First aired March 3, 2009
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| 4. How does O’Connor describe the inner workings of the Court? How does she characterize the conflict among justices on the Supreme Court? |
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 Political Process Matters
Read this New York Times article on the Senate Nomination hearings for Robert Bork, one of Ronald Reagan’s nominees for Supreme Court Justice.
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| 5. How did the necessity of the Senate’s approval shape the outcome of Bork’s nomination? |
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| 6. How much influence does the White House have in the confirmation of their nominees? |
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| 7. If there was a different nomination process, and the nominees did not require Senatorial approval, how might the Court be different? Would the separation of powers be so distinct? |
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