Question

The opportunity for the president to appoint members to the federal judiciary is valuable for which of the following reasons?

a. New justices help move long-term justices closer to mandatory retirement.
b. A majority of presidents have been able to make more than five appointments to the bench while in office.
c. The Court is able to move swiftly to begin ruling in favor of the president's ideology.
d. Rulings related to redistricting and election laws will be altered to favor the president's political party.
e. The political views of the president will continue to be institutionalized long after they have left the White House.

Answer 1

The president's power to appoint federal judges is especially valuable because those judges often reflect the president's political ideology and have lifetime appointments that outlast the president's term. Supreme Court nominees are particularly influential and receive significant attention, with each appointment potentially shaping the judicial landscape for decades.

Step-by-step explanation:

The opportunity for the president to appoint members to the federal judiciary is valuable primarily for ideological reasons. When a president appoints a federal judge or Supreme Court justice, that appointee holds a lifetime position. This means that a president can influence the judicial branch for many years after their presidency, making the judiciary act as an enduring repository for their political and ideological views. One pivotal reason that makes the presidential power to nominate judges so significant is that the appointees' judgments on issues like labor, civil rights, criminal justice, and environmental protection tend to reflect the political leanings of the appointing president.

For example, judges appointed by Democratic presidents often have a more liberal stance on these issues, while those appointed by Republican presidents may make more conservative rulings. High-profile appointments such as Supreme Court justices can cause significant public and political attention, as seen during the nominations of justices like Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. The fact that such appointments are for life underscores the long-term impact a president can have through their selection of federal judges.