UPCOMING EVENT
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
12:30 PM to 1:30 PM
Washington, DC
On Wednesday, December 2, Senior Fellow Ben Wittes will participate in a live web chat and will answer questions about President Obama’s plans for closing Guantánamo, Khalid Sheik Mohammed’s upcoming trial, and White House Counsel Greg Craig’s sudden resignation. Politico’s Fred Barbash will moderate the discussion. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Russell Wheeler, October 23, 2009, The Brookings Institution
October 20, 2009 marked nine months since President Barack Obama took office. Russell Wheeler compares the nomination process for the courts of appeals and district courts of the George W. Bush administration with the current one, focusing on nominations made, hearings held, nominees confirmed and nominee characteristics. Wheeler reveals two striking findings: the relatively paucity of Obama administration nominees and the delay in full Senate action on those nominees. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Richard P. Barth and Ron Haskins, October 01, 2009, The Future of Children Policy Brief
This policy brief, a companion to the volume of The Future of Children devoted to child maltreatment prevention, the authors examine evaluations of home-visiting programs designed to improve parenting and reduce child maltreatment and how policy makers are using social science evidence to identify and support successful programs. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Ron Haskins, Christina Paxson and Jeanne Brooks-Gunn , October 01, 2009, Future of Children Policy Brief
In this policy brief, a companion to the volume of The Future of Children devoted to child maltreatment prevention, the authors examine evaluations of home-visiting programs designed to improve parenting and reduce child maltreatment and how policy makers are using social science evidence to identify and support successful programs. Read More
VIDEO
Benjamin Wittes, August 28, 2009
Attorney General Eric Holder appointed a special prosecutor to investigate CIA operatives’ alleged abuse of terrorism detainees. Benjamin Wittes says officials from both parties question the reach of the inquest, but that Holder has acted entirely appropriately.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Russell Wheeler, August 17, 2009, The Brookings Institution
With Justice Sonia Sotomayer confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court and President Obama set to fill a number of lower court vacancies, there is renewed attention on the demographic makeup of the U.S. judiciary. Russell Wheeler examines federal judicial demographic data from the Eisenhower administration to today. He concludes that while the face of the judiciary has markedly changed over the last 30 years, it hardly mirrors the general population.
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VIDEO
Russell Wheeler, August 07, 2009
Sonia Sotomayor took the judicial oath of office on August 8, becoming the first Hspanic and third woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court. Visiting Fellow Russell Wheeler examines how the Obama administration will impact the judicial system and what we can expect from Justice Sotomayor.
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Sarah A. Binder and Forrest Maltzman, August 01, 2009, Judicature
The judicial appointment process – for both the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts – has been increasingly characterized by senatorial foot-dragging, declining confirmation rates, and protestations by both political parties. Sarah Binder and Forrest Maltzman explore the politics of judicial selection, focusing on partisan, institutional, and temporal forces that shape the fate of presidential appointments to the federal trial and appellate courts. Analyzing historical patterns from over the past 60 years, they find that the polarization of advice and consent worsened over the Bush years, but was broadly consistent with the deterioration of judicial selection over the past several decades. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Russell Wheeler, July 21, 2009, The Brookings Institution
The Obama administration announced plans to restructure how immigrants—most of whom have no criminal records—are detained. Immigration presents courts and administrative agencies tremendous challenges due to a lack of consensus and resources for total enforcement of laws governing entry to and status in the country. Russell Wheeler has explained why crafting better policies for institutions most responsible for enforcing the laws fairly should be part of the broader immigration reform effort. Read More
VIDEO
Russell Wheeler, July 17, 2009
In her quest to be confirmed as a U.S. Supreme Court justice, Judge Sonia Sotomayor faced four days of questioning and testimony on Capitol Hill. Russell Wheeler says Sotomayor’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings played out as expected — and that she will be confirmed — but adds that it’s too soon to say how she will influence the court’s decisions.
PAST EVENT
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
12:30 PM to 01:30 PM
Washington, DC
Brookings expert Russell Wheeler and Politico Senior Editor Fred Barbash took questions about the historic nomination of Sonia Sotomayor in the July 8 edition of the Scouting Report. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith, June 29, 2009, The Washington Post
President Obama seems poised to adopt the Bush administration's unilateral approach to detention. This approach has failed President Bush and it will not serve President Obama any better, write Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith. The president can still get what he needs on detention, they say, if he works from Congress's bipartisan center, releases more substantial information about the detainees he thinks cannot be set free, and speaks often about the need for stable rules to govern non-criminal detentions. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Benjamin Wittes and Colleen A. Peppard, June 26, 2009, The Brookings Institution
Closing the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay by President Obama's January deadline is pressuring the administration to craft a new system for incarcerating terrorist suspects, possibly through an executive order. Benjamin Wittes and Colleen Peppard suggest instead a model law for terrorist incapacitation. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
William A. Galston, May 28, 2009, The Brookings Institution
In nominating Sonia Sotomayor, the Obama administration must be more than satisfied with the early reaction from a political standpoint, writes William Galston. While Democrats are united and Hispanics are thrilled, those who oppose her must choose their words and tactics carefully so as not to antagonize further the nation’s fastest-growing demographic group. Read More
RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY
Benjamin Wittes, May 27, 2009, The Washington Post
Only a few years ago, a Supreme Court nominee like Judge Sonia Sotomayor could expect quick, nearly unanimous confirmation. Yet recent trends in Supreme Court nominations show Sotomayor can expect a highly contentious confirmation. Brookings expert Ben Wittes writes, our system has gone from one in which people like Sotomayor, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito are shoe-ins for confirmation to a system in which they are shoo-ins for confirmation confrontations. Read More