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My Brethren’S (Gate) Keeper? Testimony By U.S. Judges At Others’ Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings: Its Implications For Judicial Independence And Judicial Ethics, Mary Clark

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article, prompted by the testimony of seven of Samuel Alito's then-current and former Third Circuit colleagues at his hearing to be Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, examines the merits of federal judges testifying at others' Supreme Court confirmation hearings. While mindful of other approaches to the question of judicial participation in other judicial appointments systems and of their comparative advantages and disadvantages, the author nevertheless concludes that judges threaten judicial independence and judicial ethics principles when they exercise power in the Article III appointments realm. It is not so much a question of judges usurping the …