Distinguished Faculty Lecture: Professor Sheldon Goldman
Sheldon Goldman, professor of political science, will present the first 2004-2005 Distinguished Faculty Lecture, "Judicial Confirmations: The New Battle Zone in American Politics." The event is free and open to the public. A reception will be held immediately following the lecture. Professor Goldman will be presented with a Chancellor's Medal at the conclusion of the lecture.
Judicial nominees to the lower federal courts face increasing hostility on the path to confirmation. Obstruction and delays have grown in the past 25 years, a trend Professor Goldman will illuminate using papers from presidential libraries and his own statistics. He’ll also look at the underlying causes—the use of litmus tests, the ideological polarization of party elites and of the U.S. Senate as a whole, and the growing involvement of interest and advocacy groups in the selection and confirmation processes—and will speculate on what impact these lower-court controversies are likely to have on future Supreme Court appointments.
Sheldon Goldman is a nationally recognized expert, commentator, and author on the federal judiciary. He has taught at UMass Amherst since 1965 and is the chief undergraduate advisor for the political science department. He teaches courses on judicial politics, Constitutional law and policy and civil liberties. Goldman is the author of Picking Federal Judges: Lower Court Selection from Roosevelt Through Reagan, (1997, 1999); Constitutional Law: Cases and Essays (2nd ed., 1991); The Federal Courts as a Political System, (3rd ed., 1985). Co-author: American Politics and Government (1990); American Court Systems (2nd ed., 1989); Judicial Conflict and Consensus (1986). He is frequently quoted in national outlets ranging from the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, Washington Post, Congressional Quarterly,and USA Today, to Time, Newsweek and National Public Radio. Goldman earned his bachelor’s degree in political science form New York University in 1961, and a master’s and doctorate from Harvard in 1964 and 1965 respectively.
