Vetting Judges

"I trust I make myself obscure."
--Sir Thomas More (A Man for All Seasons)

One way to vet candidates for Supreme Court decisions is to interview them. Ask them what they think about various issues. This is what goes on in Congress once candidates are nominated by the president.

Much of this is a waste of time. Beyond the theatrical nature of these hearings, the spoken word itself is imprecise. People often say one thing and do another.

A better way to vet judicial candidates is to study their historical behavior. How have they acted on various issues in the past?

.@Judgenap: The president outsourced vetting for SCOTUS nominees – they know every opinion of these judges pic.twitter.com/qvTkgZNAMF

— FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) July 3, 2018

As Judge Nap reports, this is what Donald Trump is doing with candidates for the bench seat opened by President Kennedy's pending retirement. In what, according to Judge Nap, is a first for a president, Trump has outsourced the vetting of candidates to a trusted external group--in this case the Federalist Society. The society's lawyers have read every court opinion, brief, legal paper, et al authored by the candidates that they could get their hands on and are reporting their findings to the president.

Smart. Trump is probably drawing from his experience as a manager. He knows to emphasize what has been done instead of what has been said when evaluating job candidates.