ABSTRACT
America’s federal courts are often a major arena for battles between ambitious presidents and their opponents. Presidents seek to fill the courts with judges who will support their current policies and espouse their values for years to come. Presidents also frequently endeavor to exert influence over the courts, bullying judges whom they cannot persuade to support them. Presidents’ opponents will seek to block judicial appointments they see as inimical to their own interests while decrying what they view as improper presidential efforts to influence judicial decision making.
The outcomes of these public battles can be important. The noise and smoke these struggles produce, however, can obscure the even more significant long-term role of the judiciary as a bulwark of presidential power. Though some see the courts as an important check against presidential overreach, the fact is that even if judges sometimes rule against the president in particular disputes, generally speaking the courts tend to support the president and the federal judiciary has helped to build and continues to sustain the imperial presidency.
