Bulletin n. 2-3/2012
October 2012-February 2013
CONTENTS
  • Section A) The theory and practise of the federal states and multi-level systems of government
  • Section B) Global governance and international organizations
  • Section C) Regional integration processes
  • Section D) Federalism as a political idea
    • Scott Basinger and Maxwell Mak
    The Changing Politics of Supreme Court Confirmations
    in American Politics Research , Vol.40, n.4, July ,  2012 ,  737-763
    Senate voting on Supreme Court nominees offers a window into macro-political continuity and change. Clashes over confirmations once were reserved for a handful of exceptional cases, but recently have become the norm. Party cohesion in the Senate has also experienced a recent, rapid increase. An analysis of votes on 43 Supreme Court nominees reveals that senators polarize in response to rising levels of average party loyalty. The analysis further reveals that a senator who individually is more loyal to his or her party will be more likely to adopt an extreme position on confirmation, even after controlling for the effects of rising aggregate partisanship. Once the partisan trend is taken into account, our analysis contradicts the conventional wisdom that Robert Bork’s nomination instituted a “regime change” with a lasting effect on Senate voting patterns.
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