Hearings for Supreme Court Justices

          Some interesting findings from Professors Lori A. Ringhand and Paul M. Collins Jr. about Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings of Supreme Court Nominees, 1939-2009:

Senators have engaged minority and female nominees in more substantive questioning than white male nominees.

Senators pressed minority and female nominees much more heavily with regard to their judicial philosophies. As such, it is evident that senators are particularly interested in grilling female and minority nominees regarding their approaches to constitutional interpretation.

Minority nominees were interrogated with respect to criminal justice issues substantially more often than white nominees. 

While minority nominees received fewer questions involving court administration and access to courts than did white nominees, female nominees were at the receiving end of more court administration and standing questions than male nominees.