Step 1: President's Nomination
When there is a vacancy in the federal courts, the president submits a nominee to the U.S. Senate.

Step 2: Hearing in Senate Judiciary Committee
The Senate Judiciary Committee is the first stop for the nominee. The committee debates the nomination, hears testimony from the nominee and sometimes from witnesses, and reviews the nominee's knowledge of the law, judicial philosophy, and record.

Step 3: Committee Vote
At the end of the hearings and debate, the committee votes whether to recommend the nomination to the full Senate. Nominees are approved by a simple majority. Usually a majority of the committee must support confirmation for the nominee to be sent to the full Senate. However, by tradition, a Supreme Court nomination will always go to the full Senate, even with a negative recommendation from the committee.

Step 4: Senate Debate
The full Senate debates the nomination. Debate may be quite brief or as long as a week or more, depending on the level of the court, the nominee, and other factors.

Step 5: Senate Vote
Following debate, the Senate votes to confirm or reject the nomination. A nominee may be approved by a simple majority of senators. Or if senators opposed to a nominee choose, they may exercise their rights to filibuster the nomination – which requires a vote of 60 senators to overcome.