Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Judicial Nominees: Defining The Terms Of Senate Debates, Gary L. Mcdowell

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Since roughly the beginning of the Reagan administration the left wing of the Democratic senatorial cohort has enjoyed remarkable success in disparaging Republican nominees to the federal judiciary as mere "conservatives". Its argument has been that those nominees would decide cases on everything from abortion to economic regulation on the basis of their "conservative" policy preferences. Sadly, as a general rule, the conservatives have allowed the Democrats to get away with this distortion.