Dumbing Down the Courts: How Politics Keeps the Smartest Judges Off the Bench

Judges have enormous power. They determine whom we can marry, whether we can own firearms, whether the government can mandate that we buy certain products, and how we define “personhood.” But who gets to occupy these powerful positions? Up until now, there has been little systematic study of what type of judges get confirmed.

In his rigorous yet readable style, John Lott analyzes both historical accounts and large amounts of data to see how the confirmation process has changed over time. Mos...