When the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected Judge Charles Pickering's nomination to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on a party-line vote, many commentators said the highly charged debate was a warm-up for future Supreme Court nominations.

The issues surrounding federal judicial selection -- from party politics and the role of the American Bar Association to race and gender -- will be the focus of a daylong symposium at the UC Davis School of Law on Friday, April 5.

"Judicial selection is going to be one of the most contentious issues dividing the president and the Senate throughout the coming year unless the politicians act more reflectively and less aggressively," says John Oakley, a UC Davis professor of law and the symposium's faculty organizer.

At a time when the federal courts have 110 vacancies, representing 10 percent of authorized judgeships, the symposium will explore the judicial selection process through four sessions:

• 8:45 a.m. -- The Evolution of the Federal Judicial Selection Process
• 9 a.m. -- The Role of Gender and Race
• 10:45 a.m. -- From Then to Now: Historical Perspectives on the Roles of Politics and Professional Norms
• 2 p.m. -- Contemporary Perspectives on the Politics of Federal Judicial Selection

Among the speakers and moderators will be Nan Aron, founder of the Alliance for Justice and the Judicial Selection Project; Rob McDuff, a lawyer who litigates cases involving discrimination in judicial selection; David Savage, U.S. Supreme Court reporter for the Los Angeles Times; and leading academics on the federal courts and the politics of judicial selection.

Sponsored by the UC Davis Law Review, the symposium is open to the public, and no registration is required. The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. in the Moot Court Room of King Hall.