Senate confirmation of cabinet nominations: Institutional politics and nominee qualifications

The outcomes of votes to confirm cabinet nominations can be viewed from the perspective of the individual nominee's qualifications for the position or one which places confirmation votes in the context of institutional politics between the president and the Senate. This article specifies and tests a linear regression model designed to assess which perspective best explains confirmation votes for the 201 cabinet nominations made between 1945 and 1993. The analysis indicates that, unlike nominations to the U.S. Supreme Court, the key conflict is between the nominee's own background and the Senate's standard of appropriate conduct in personal and business affairs. But when conflicts of interest arise, the president's standing with the public becomes an important factor.Mr. President, the nomination before us today confronts this body with extremely difficult choices. One choice—and the one I would much prefer to make—would honor the President's prerogative of selecting his own Cabinet and give to Mr. Donovan the benefit of the doubt with regard to the allegations that have been made against him. But the second choice, Mr. President, is to raise the question of whether we can in good faith confirm a nominee to an office of high public trust about whose background there remain so many serious questions and doubts (Senator Howard Metzenbaum).1