The practice of holding hearings began to emerge in the second decade of the 20th century. Even then, it was common for hearings to occur in executive session or without the nominee present. The current practice of formal public confirmation hearings on nearly all appointments, with the nominee present, is a relatively recent development. But with the growing number of presidential appointments subject to Senate confirmation, a heavy burden falls on the Senate to arrange and schedule hundreds of confirmation hearings each year. Scheduling conflicts often lead to unnecessary delays in confirmation.
Many nominations provoke no controversy whatsoever.
With the lengthy questionnaires nominees now complete and the individual meetings they typically have with senators and committee staff, hearings are sometimes unnecessary. And public hearings force nominees and staff from the agencies to which they are nominated to spend long hours preparing, usually for questions that are never asked. But for a great many nominations, none of these conditions obtain, and confirmation hearings are little more than a time-consuming ritual. We believe that no good purpose is served by these rituals, certainly not one that justifies the delays they often impose on confirmation. It would be better for the Senate to hold public confirmation hearings only when there is a valid reason for so doing.