Many Things Considered
In “Many Things Considered” one-time journalist and full-time political analyst Marc Johnson applies his passion for context to connect current politics with political history. What are the links between the debacle of Barry Goldwater’s 1964 presidential campaign and the Tea Party movement? Did Alexander Hamilton foresee the partisanship that now surrounds judicial appointments? Why haven’t third parties had political success in America? Johnson weaves interviews, archival sound, humor and authoritative narration to connect political history to today’s political stories.
Many Things Considered
Episdoe 2: Making a Judge
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Marc Johnson
Appointing judges has always been an overtly political process, after all politicians are involved, but the process has not always been as contentious and hyper-partisan as it has become over the last two decades. From the days of Alexander Hamilton to the 1980s a broad bipartisan consensus existed that generally respected the president’s power to appoint judges who were qualified and within the political mainstream. But now a Supreme Court vacancy has gone unfilled for months, more 100 other judicial positions remain unfilled and the once routine confirmation process can take months or even longer. What’s happened to how we make judges and what can history tell us about how things might be done differently?