Tyrone Schiff Page 1 of 4Ideas and ActionThe Supreme Court of The United States of America is one of the threefundamental branches that comprise the American government. It plays a significant rolein deciding a number of major decisions and policies that all Americans must follow.Through the years, the Supreme Court has had to formulate conclusions on tough topicssuch as affirmative action, abortion, and religion. These are all very significant mattersthat people care about very deeply. It is important then to pick the right types of people tocome to a consensus about these issues. The President of the United States is responsiblefor picking judges. This is a heavily scrutinized activity on the President’s behalf, becausethe term of Supreme Court justice is for a lifetime. Knowing that Supreme Court justiceswill have many opportunities to shape policy, a President will typically try and select anindividual with political ideologies that are congruent with the President’s respective party. This makes the composition and decision making process of the Supreme Courtvery interesting. With certainty, political ideologies have a significant impact on theSupreme Court, specifically in the appointment process that involves collective actionand decisions made internally within the court.The process of appointing an individual to become a justice in the Supreme Courtdeals greatly with political ideology and collective action. It is pertinent to first discussthat political ideologies are, “an individual’s opinions on particular issues, events, and personalities [that] emerge as he or she evaluates these phenomena through the lenses of the beliefs and orientations” (Lowi, 379). Political ideologies are merely a coalescence of the types of experiences or opinions one forms throughout the course of a lifetime. Theseideologies are usually represented by, or in large part, one of the political parties that exist

Tyrone Schiff Page 2 of 4in the United States. Typically, a President is supported by one of these political parties,and the type of judge is picked based on similar ideologies to the party. For instance,“Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush [appointed] conservative Republicans […] BillClinton [appointed] liberal Democrats” (Lowi, 322). Quite clearly, political ideology plays a major role in the type of person who is appointed to the Supreme Court.Although a President may want to pick someone who shares his exact politicalideologies there is a great deal of collective action involved in the process of appointment. Initially, the President will pick a candidate that he thinks is worthy of the position. Before the candidate can even become a nominee, however, the President seeksapproval from the senators of the candidates home state. The next stage in theappointment process is when the candidate is considered by the Senate JudiciaryCommittee, and then further supported by a majority vote in the Senate. Without a greatdeal of collective action, this process would grind to a halt from the onset. A goodexample of a break down in collective action was when George W. Bush tried to appointfederal judges while the Democrats controlled a majority of the Senate (Lowi, 322).Collective action, just like with most things in politics, is integral to the success of anyactivity. The approval of a Supreme Court justice does not hinge on the decision of justone individual, but rather the agreement of many.Political ideologies also play a role in how the Supreme Court comes to their decisions. The Supreme Court goes through a very systematic regimen whenever a case is brought before them. Central to all Supreme Court cases is a conference in which, “the justices discuss the case and eventually reach a decision on the basis of majority vote”(Lowi, 344). This part of the process is most entrenched in a justice’s political ideology,

Tyrone Schiff Page 3 of 4as he or she will try and influence the rest of the court. A Supreme Court case thatillustrates a ideologies is

Roe v. Wade

. This court case evaluated a woman’s right to havean abortion. The Supreme Court’s findings were that laws against abortion violated aconstitutional right to privacy (FindLaw). The 7-2 decision, overturned state and federallaws outlawing abortion. It is interesting to note that six of the seven who voted in favor were nominated by Republican Presidents. The topic of abortion is a very heated topic of debate and is a defining point in determining one’s political ideology. The case illustrates principles of collective action, because justices who were appointed by both Republicanand Democratic Presidents agreed on an issue. Political ideologies were clearly presentwhen trying to make a decision on this case. Justices nominated by Presidents withsimilar ideologies voted together on this issue, which shows the power that politicalideology has in the decision making process of the Supreme Court.Political ideologies clearly have a significant impact on the composition anddecisions that the Supreme Court make. Yet, it is important to be cognizant of the factthat without collective action the appointment process of Supreme Court justices wouldnever be a reality. In order for a Supreme Court justice to be inducted, the Senate, whichrepresents the whole country, must approve of the candidate. Therefore, although justicesmay be picked by a President for espousing particular ideologies, collective action is acheck on this power. Political ideology plays a large role in the decision making that goeson in the Supreme Court, as Roe v. Wade depicts. Justices with similar ideologies willtend to vote together, which gives a great deal of power to the one who nominates.Picking the right people for this significant post is an extremely important job because of the immense ramifications it has on policy and society.