List of people nominated to U.S. Supreme Court in last year of presidency
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. A vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States during the last year of a presidency is rare.[1] Accordingly, attempts by presidents to fill such vacancies have also been rare.[2] Rarer still is such a vacancy when the White House and the U.S. Senate are controlled by opposing parties.[3]
Following is a list of people who were nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court during the last year of a president's last term. It includes both cases where it was known at the time of nomination it would be the president's last term and cases where it was not known. This list does not include presidents who never had an opportunity to serve what would have been their last year, due to assassination or the like. Nor does it include cases where the nomination occurred prior to the final year of a president's last term but Senate action continued into that last year.
Seven of the twenty-five nominations listed here resulted in confirmations. Of the rest, two nominees declined the nominations, two nominations were postponed and never taken up again, seven were withdrawn by the President, six resulted in no Senate action (not even postponement), and one of these nominations is still pending.
Fifteen of these nominations occurred when the Senate and White House were not controlled by the same party. Of those, three have been confirmed, and twelve have not been confirmed. This configuration received considerable public attention in 2016 with the death of Justice Antonin Scalia and the resulting Merrick Garland Supreme Court nomination.[4]
Possible results
There are several possible results of a Supreme Court nomination:
- "confirmed"—for nominees who were confirmed and accepted confirmation.
- "rejected"—for nominees who lost their confirmation vote.
- "declined"—for nominees who declined nomination. This includes nominees who were confirmed by the Senate but declined to serve.
- "pending"—for nominees pending before the current session of the Senate.
- "withdrawn"—for nominations withdrawn by the President prior to a confirmation vote.
- "no action"—for cases in which the Senate session ended without the nomination being brought to the floor for consideration.
- "postponed"—for nominations about which a vote was taken to defer consideration of the nominee, but no confirmation vote took place. In this case, the "date of result" is the date of the vote to postpone. The Senate need not vote to postpone or table a matter "indefinitely", in order for a resolution to have that effect.[5]
Nominees
President | Nomination | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nominee | President | Party | Last day of last term |
Senate Control |
Submitted to Senate |
Result | Date of Result |
Notes |
John Jay | J. Adams | Fed | Mar. 4, 1801 | Fed | Dec. 18, 1800 | declined | Dec. 19, 1800 | [6] |
John Marshall | J. Adams | Fed | Mar. 4, 1801 | Fed | Jan. 20, 1801 | confirmed | Jan. 27, 1801 | [6] |
John J. Crittenden | J. Q. Adams | D-R | Mar. 4, 1829 | D-R | Dec. 17, 1828 | postponed | Feb. 12, 1829 | [3][6] |
William Smith | Jackson | Dem | Mar. 4, 1837 | Dem | Mar. 3, 1837 | declined | Mar. 8, 1837 | [6] |
John Catron | Jackson | Dem | Mar. 4, 1837 | Dem | Mar. 3, 1837 | confirmed | Mar. 8, 1837 | [6] |
Peter Vivian Daniel | Van Buren | Dem | Mar. 4, 1841 | Dem | Feb. 26, 1841 | confirmed | Mar. 2, 1841 | [6] |
Reuben Walworth | Tyler | None | Mar. 4, 1845 | Whig | Mar. 13, 1844 | withdrawn | June 17, 1844 | [6] |
Edward King | Tyler | None | Mar. 4, 1845 | Whig | June 5, 1844 | postponed | June 15, 1844 | [6] |
John C. Spencer | Tyler | None | Mar. 4, 1845 | Whig | June 17, 1844 | withdrawn | June 17, 1844 | [6] |
Reuben Walworth | Tyler | None | Mar. 4, 1845 | Whig | June 17, 1844 | no action | June 17, 1844 | [6] |
Edward King | Tyler | None | Mar. 4, 1845 | Whig | Dec. 4, 1844 | withdrawn | Feb. 7, 1845 | [6] |
Reuben Walworth | Tyler | None | Mar. 4, 1845 | Whig | Dec. 4, 1844 | withdrawn | Feb. 4, 1845 | [6] |
Samuel Nelson | Tyler | None | Mar. 4, 1845 | Whig | Feb. 4, 1845 | confirmed | Feb. 14, 1845 | [6] |
John M. Read | Tyler | None | Mar. 4, 1845 | Whig | Feb. 7, 1845 | no action | [6] | |
Edward A. Bradford | Fillmore | Whig | Mar. 4, 1853 | Dem | Aug. 16, 1852 | no action | [6] | |
George E. Badger | Fillmore | Whig | Mar. 4, 1853 | Dem | Jan. 3, 1853 | withdrawn | Feb. 14, 1853 | [6] |
William C. Micou | Fillmore | Whig | Mar. 4, 1853 | Dem | Feb. 14, 1853 | no action | [6] | |
Jeremiah S. Black | Buchanan | Dem | Mar. 4, 1861 | Dem | Feb. 5, 1861 | no action | Feb. 21, 1861 | [6] |
William Burnham Woods | Hayes | Rep | Mar. 4, 1881 | Dem | Dec. 15, 1880 | confirmed | Dec. 21, 1880 | [6] |
Stanley Matthews | Hayes | Rep | Mar. 4, 1881 | Dem | Jan. 26, 1881 | no action | [6] | |
Melville Fuller | Cleveland | Dem | Mar. 4, 1889 | Rep | Apr. 30, 1888 | confirmed | July 20, 1888 | [3][6] |
George Shiras, Jr. | B. Harrison | Rep | Mar. 4, 1893 | Rep | July 19, 1892 | confirmed | July 26, 1892 | [6] |
Abe Fortas | L. Johnson | Dem | Jan. 20, 1969 | Dem | June 26, 1968 | withdrawn | Oct. 2, 1968 | [3][6] |
Homer Thornberry | L. Johnson | Dem | Jan. 20, 1969 | Dem | June 26, 1968 | withdrawn | Oct. 2, 1968 | [6] |
Merrick Garland | Obama | Dem | Jan. 20, 2017 | Rep | Mar. 16, 2016 | pending | [6][4] |
See also
- List of Presidents of the United States by judicial appointments
- List of Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States
- List of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States
- Unsuccessful nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States
References
- ↑ "Do presidents stop nominating judges in final year?", Politifact (February 14, 2016).
- ↑ Kiely, Eugene. "Cruz, Rubio Twist Court 'Precedent'", FactCheck.org (February 17, 2016).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Kessler, Glenn. "Does the Senate have a constitutional responsibility to consider a Supreme Court nomination?", Washington Post (March 16, 2016).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Hogue, Henry. "Supreme Court Nominations Not Confirmed, 1789—August 2010", Congressional Research Service (August 20, 2010).