With the confirmation hearings for Judge Ketanji Jackson to begin tomorrow, the confirmation process itself will once again be in the spotlight. In light of that, I want to call attention again to one of the most detailed, practical set of recommendations that has been offered for improving the confirmation process.

As part of the testimony submitted to President Biden’s Supreme Court Commission, on which I served, we received an analysis on improving the confirmation process from Jeffrey J. Peck, who previously served as General Counsel and the Majority Staff Director of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The proposed changes grew out of his examination
of the history of the Senate’s treatment of Supreme Court nominees over the last several
decades and numerous interviews he conducted with former Senators and senior staff—
thirteen Democrats and twelve Republicans. That group included individuals who had been
involved in seventeen Supreme Court nominations, from 1981 to the present.

This report might well be the most thorough analysis and recommendations for changes to the confirmation process, a set of recommendations informed by the practical experience of so many Senators and staff involved in the process over the last 40 years. The report can be found here.

As the confirmation process comes back into focus, and if criticisms of it arise, as they are likely to do, it will be useful to examine the recommendations of this large bipartisan group of those in Congress with long experience with the confirmation process.