List of people nominated to the Supreme Court of the United States in the last year of a presidency

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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Of the rest, two nominees declined the nominations, two nominations were postponed and never taken up again, seven were withdrawn by the President, six resulted in no Senate action (not even postponement), and one of these nominations is still pending.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  • "withdrawn"—for nominations withdrawn by the President prior to a confirmation vote.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

References

  1. ^ "Do presidents stop nominating judges in final year?", Politifact (February 14, 2016).
  2. ^ Kiely, Eugene. "Cruz, Rubio Twist Court 'Precedent'", FactCheck.org (February 17, 2016).
  3. ^ a b c d Kessler, Glenn. "Does the Senate have a constitutional responsibility to consider a Supreme Court nomination?", Washington Post (March 16, 2016).
  4. ^ a b Shear, Michael (March 16, 2016). "Obama Chooses Merrick Garland for Supreme Court". New York Times.
  5. ^ Beth, Richard (2009). Supreme Court Nominations: Senate Floor Procedure and Practice, 1789-2009. DIANE Publishing. pp. 5ff. ISBN 978-1-4379-1994-3.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y "Supreme Court Nominations". Official website of the United States Senate. Retrieved February 3, 2006.

External links

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