A 2025 Christmas Sampler
And welcome to a New Year of Confirmation Tales!
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah! I hope that you’ve enjoyed this third year of Confirmation Tales.
Over the past year, my chronological narrative of judicial-confirmation battles moved into George W. Bush’s second term.
Highlights included:
The Gang of 14 Agreement: How it derailed Republican efforts to abolish the filibuster on judicial nominations, how Senate Democrats quickly soured on it, and how we might never have had Justice Alito without it.
The very different experiences of D.C. Circuit nominee Brett Kavanaugh and Tenth Circuit nominee Neil Gorsuch in the process that positioned them for their Supreme Court nominations a decade later.
The American Bar Association’s thoroughly scandalous review of Fifth Circuit nominee Michael B. Wallace and former conservative legal icon Ted Olson’s surprising effort to bully me.
I also took occasional forays off the narrative path:
My most-read post of the year was Teddy Roosevelt Quickly Regrets Appointing Justice Holmes.
I explored how a federal appellate judgeship has recently become the preferred stepping stone to the Supreme Court, how there used to be lots of different paths, and explained the dramatic shift.
I examined why state supreme court justices would rather be lower-court federal judges.
Have a Happy New Year! Please join me for another year of Confirmation Tales! And if you have friends or family members who you think will enjoy Confirmation Tales, please invite them to sign up.