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- iHaveNet.com: Politics
by Jessica Rettig
Bill Burck says Supreme Court Nominee's qualifications are the most important factor
As speculation over who President Obama will choose to replace
Burck was deputy staff secretary during the nomination processes of both Chief Justice John Roberts
and Justice Samuel Alito, so he knows the inside details about how nominees are chosen and prepped.
He recently chatted what makes the ideal
Excerpts:
How does a president decide on a nominee?
The process is pretty professionalized. I would imagine that President Obama started having his people in the
How do you prepare a nominee for the barrage of questions?
Well, first of all the nominee spends 100 percent of their time -- 110 percent, really -- preparing. They re-read everything that they've written -- everything from what they wrote in high school to what they wrote yesterday -- and they think about all the major issues that are confronting the
How do you assemble a murder board?
You try and find people who are subject matter experts. You also want to find people who are able and adept at asking questions and who will not shy away from being aggressive and being controversial with the nominee so that they get a taste of what it might really be like when they're actually there. You don't want to have a group of people who are coddling the nominee and making them think that they're the smartest and nicest people in the world and everyone loves them.
What does it take for a nominee to be confirmed?
The most important thing is the qualifications that the person has. It's an extremely hard job. It's not just in terms of your intellect, you also have to be very good at dealing with your fellow colleagues, you have to be able to think ahead, you have to think about the implications of the legal questions that you're answering. I think how appealing someone is is very important. The more irascible, or the more difficult somebody is, the harder it will be. When you're nominated for the
What sort of deal making goes on behind the scenes during the confirmation process?
I will tell you, not a lot. It's not like the other judicial positions. The president will nominate somebody. And then, when they're up there, it's such an important position that there's not a lot of horse trading that typically goes on, certainly not compared to other things on the Hill.
What are some tips for getting a nominee through the
Be extremely well-prepared before the nomination opens up to make sure that you've got a wide-range of people that have a wide-range of experiences. That means doing your homework. You don't want any surprises. You want to know this person inside and out. Even if there's certain things about the person's background that may not be ideal, knowing beforehand allows you to do something incredibly important in Washington, which is to tell people about it before they hear it from the press. So, you communicate with the senators, you communicate with their staff, you understand what the issue is, you explain it to them, you tell them why, nevertheless, the president decided to make this nomination. And that goes an enormous way toward making it not an issue. Surprise is the enemy of a nominee.
Do you have any cautionary tales for whoever preps Obama's next nominee?
Make sure the people you are using to vet the nominee have two characteristics. One is that they are going to keep it confidential. They're not going to leak to the press how the process is going. Make sure that the people on the murder board not only have discretion, but they also know what they're talking about. These are very intelligent nominees. If they are not being tested by people who are at least in the same ball park, it's not going to be as useful for them.
Available at Amazon.com:
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The Political Fix: Changing the Game of American Democracy, from the Grassroots to the White House
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