The confirmation mess

Nearly everyone agrees that we have made a mess of the constitutional process for selecting Supreme Court Justices, cabinet officers, and other top federal officials. From the bitter battle over the nomination of Robert Bork in 1987 to the Nanny Problem that trapped so many potential public servants in 1993, we have developed a system in which the only way to defeat a nominee is to prove that he or she is "disqualified" - which means, in practice, finding a way to convince the public that the individual is a dangerous radical or has engaged in scandalous misconduct. In a lively and…