Justice Antonin Scalia and the Supreme Court's Conservative Movement.

• Author: McGuire, Kevin T.

By Christopher E. Smith. Westport, Conn: Praeger. 1993. Pp. xi, 148. $47.95.

There is little doubt that changes in the membership of the U.S. Supreme Court have considerable legal and political consequences. The political effects are obvious enough: When vacancies occur on the high court, presidents seek ideologically compatible nominees who are both palatable to the Senate and capable of withstanding the buffets of televised hearings, ratings in public opinion polls, and the competing voices of any number of organized interests that might mobilize in response. Such high levels of public attentiveness to the selection process naturally reflect the importance of the Court as a policymaker, but in some instances the nature of judicial selection may have broader significance; indeed, it may alter how citizens view and respond to substantive issues of public policy raised during the course of choosing a new Justice. Moreover, the legal effects of membership change are equally plain: Interest in this process is, not surprisingly, all the more magnified when an appointment has the potential to modify the direction of the Court's outcomes. Of course, the ability of any single Justice to shape the contours of federal law is mediated by membership in what is, despite only infrequent direct interaction among its members, a collegial body. It is these two issues--the political ramifications of choosing a new Justice and the doctrinal impact of a member once elevated to the bench--upon which Christopher E. Smith focuses in two separate books. Using Justices Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia as case studies, Smith assesses the effect of the individual Justice in both the political and legal contexts. The political implications are addressed in Critical Judicial Nominations and Political Change. In this book, Smith examines the larger systemic repercussions of the controversy surrounding the confirmation hearings of Justice Thomas. Here he argues that Anita Hill's allegations of sexual harassment made against Thomas, as well as the manner in which the issue was handled by the Senate Judiciary Committee, radically altered the nature of electoral politics; according to Smith, the confirmation hearings of Thomas ushered in a new era in which women within the electorate generally, and female candidates for public office specifically, now play a dominant and forceful role. In Justice Antonin Scalia and the Supreme Court's Conservative Moment, Smith provides the legal...