Nomination Bi-Partisan Analysis

Senate nominations are some of the simplest and yet most contentious votes taken by Congress. The majority party in the Senate brings the President's nominations to the floor, and the senators vote. A simple majority (51 votes) is require to pass a nomination. In the event of a tie, the Vice President casts the deciding vote.

In a congress where the President's party also controls the Senate, it is rare for a nomination to be rejected. In a highly partisan environment, oftentimes the minority party can simply vote down on every nominee as a symbolic rejection of the majority party's choice, because the majority party generally has enough votes to confirm any nominee. In a more bi-partisan environment, one would expect to see a higher number of minority senators voting for the majority party's nominations.

The below chart lists all of the Senate nominations to date, showing the breakdown of how many legislators from each party crossed party lines and voted in a bi-partisan way.