Study: Believe it or not, Supreme Court confirmation hearings are useful

But a new study, based on an analysis of every question asked and every answer given at Supreme Court confirmation hearings in the last 70 years, shows that the hearings often address real substance, illuminate the spirit of their times and change with shifts in partisan alignments and the demographic characteristics of nominees.

The study also refutes the common mistaken belief that questions about abortion rights have played a dominant role in confirmation hearings since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. And it finds that female and minority nominees are questioned more closely than white male ones…

Though Roe v. Wade, recognizing a constitutional right to abortion, was decided in 1973, the first questions concerning it and sexual privacy more generally did not arise until the 1981 confirmation hearings of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Discussion of abortion rights since then has accounted for only 5 percent of all dialogue between senators and nominees.

“Abortion as a hearing issue both took some time to gain traction and failed to dominate the hearings after it did,” the study found. “Racial and gender discrimination, speech and religious freedom and even non-abortion-related privacy have all played larger roles.”