A murder board is a committee of questioners set up to help someone prepare for a difficult oral examination. The term originated in the U.S. military

Military of the United States

The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. They consist of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard.The United States has a strong tradition of civilian control of the military...

 but is also used in academic and government appointment contexts.

In U.S. politics

Politics of the United States

The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States , Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments.The executive branch is headed by the President...

, murder boards are used in preparing candidates for debate

Debate

Debate or debating is a method of interactive and representational argument. Debate is a broader form of argument than logical argument, which only examines consistency from axiom, and factual argument, which only examines what is or isn't the case or rhetoric which is a technique of persuasion...

s and presidential

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 appointees for Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 confirmation hearings

Advice and consent

Advice and consent is an English phrase frequently used in enacting formulae of bills and in other legal or constitutional contexts, describing a situation in which the executive branch of a government enacts something previously approved of by the legislative branch.-General:The expression is...

.

On April 20, 2010 representative Mary Jo Kilroy

Mary Jo Kilroy

Mary Jo Kilroy is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2009 until 2011. She is a member of the Democratic Party from Ohio. In her first term she introduced a bill to lend $20 million per year to small businesses and an amendment to assign liability to credit reporting agencies. She...

 asked former Lehman Brothers CEO Dick Fuld if he had set up a murder board to prepare for his testimony before the House Financial Services Committee

United States House Committee on Financial Services

The United States House Committee on Financial Services is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees the entire financial services industry, including the securities, insurance, banking, and housing industries...

 concerning the 2008 Lehman Brothers failure. Fuld expressed confusion at the expression, apparently unfamiliar with the term. Fuld indicated that he had not set up a murder board after Barney Frank

Barney Frank

Barney Frank is the U.S. Representative for . A member of the Democratic Party, he is the former chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and is considered the most prominent gay politician in the United States.Born and raised in New Jersey, Frank graduated from Harvard College and...

explained what it meant.