The Ginsburg Nomination and the Press

In: The Harvard international journal of press, politics, Band 1, Heft 2, S. 78-99

Abstract

The 1987 nomination of Robert Bork as associate justice of the Supreme Court launched a large-scale effort for and against the nomination. This effort included grass-roots mobilization, competition for news coverage, use of paid media, and frequent reference to public opinion. A similar, though more limited, effort occurred in 1991 when Clarence Thomas was nominated. By contrast, the confirmation process of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993 was phlegmatic. The conventional wisdom appears to be that, given the placidity of the Ginsburg confirmation process, external forces had a limited role. The question this comparison poses is whether the roles of external forces—the press, interest groups, and public opinion—were aberrations relevant only to the Bork and Thomas nominations, or whether they have acquired a permanency in the nomination process.