List of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States
This article is part of a series on the |
Supreme Court of the United States |
---|
![]() |
The Court |
Current membership |
|
Lists of justices |
|
Court functionaries |
To become a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, an individual must be nominated by the President of the United States and approved by the U.S. Senate, with at least half of that body approving in the affirmative. Generally, a justice's qualifications are judged by the President and, most visibly, by a Senate hearing. There is no definitive qualification of age or experience that is a standard to be met; instead, there is a much more subjective process taken by the Senate, occasionally resulting in a sometimes controversial defeat of judicial nominees.
The following table lists the nominations that were sent by the President to the Senate for the constitutionally required “advice and consent”. They are placed in chronological order by their date of nomination.
- Only nominations which have been formally sent to the Senate are listed here. For example, the nomination of Douglas H. Ginsburg was withdrawn before the official notification had been sent to the Senate, so it is not listed in the table below.
- The “Seat Rank” is either “CJ” for Chief Justice of the United States or “AJ” for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
- When a President nominates an individual to the Supreme Court, he informs the Senate of the nomination via a letter. The “Date of Submission to Senate” is the date of that letter (except for Hugo Black, whose letter was undated).
- The “Result” can be one of six possibilities:
- “no action”, if the Senate session ended without the nomination being brought to the floor for consideration
- In this case, “Vote” and “Date of Result” should be blank.
- “postponed”, if the nomination was brought to the floor and a vote was taken to defer consideration, but no confirmation vote took place
- In this case, “Vote” is the result of the vote to postpone and “Date of Result” is the date of that vote.
- “rejected”, if the nominee failed a confirmation vote
- In this case, “Vote” is the result of the confirmation vote and “Date of Result” is the date of the confirmation vote.
- “confirmed”, if the nominee was confirmed and accepted the confirmation
- In this case, “Vote” is the result of the confirmation vote and “Date of Result” is the date of the confirmation vote.
- “declined”, if the nominee declined his or her nomination when informed of the nomination
- If the Senate was informed that the nominee had declined their nomination prior to a confirmation vote, “Vote” is blank and “Date of Result” is the date of that decline. If the Senate held a confirmation vote prior to being informed that the nominee had declined their nomination, “Vote” is the result of the confirmation vote and “Date of Result” is the date of the confirmation vote.
- “withdrawn”, if the nominee accepted their nomination and then the nomination was withdrawn prior to a confirmation vote
- In this case, “Vote” should be blank and “Date of Result” is the date that the nomination was withdrawn.
- “no action”, if the Senate session ended without the nomination being brought to the floor for consideration
- The “Vote” is either “voice vote”, if a count of the yeas and nays was not requested and therefore not recorded, or the tally of the vote.
Nominee | Replacing | Seat Rank |
Date of Submission to Senate |
Result | Vote | Date of Result | President |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
John Jay | (new seat) | CJ | September 24, 1789 | confirmed | voice vote | September 26, 1789 | Washington |
John Rutledge | (new seat) | AJ | September 24, 1789 | confirmed | voice vote | September 26, 1789 | Washington |
William Cushing | (new seat) | AJ | September 24, 1789 | confirmed | voice vote | September 26, 1789 | Washington |
Robert H. Harrison | (new seat) | AJ | September 24, 1789 | declined | September 26, 1789 | Washington | |
James Wilson | (new seat) | AJ | September 24, 1789 | confirmed | voice vote | September 26, 1789 | Washington |
John Blair | (new seat) | AJ | September 24, 1789 | confirmed | voice vote | September 26, 1789 | Washington |
James Iredell | Harrison | AJ | February 8, 1790 | confirmed | voice vote | February 10, 1790 | Washington |
Thomas Johnson[1] | Rutledge | AJ | November 1, 1791 | confirmed | voice vote | November 7, 1791 | Washington |
William Paterson | Johnson | AJ | February 27, 1793 | withdrawn | February 28, 1793 | Washington | |
William Paterson | Johnson | AJ | March 4, 1793 | confirmed | voice vote | March 4, 1793 | Washington |
John Rutledge[1] | Jay | CJ | December 10, 1795 | rejected | 10–14 | December 15, 1795 | Washington |
William Cushing[2] | Jay | CJ | January 26, 1796 | declined | January 27, 1796 | Washington | |
Samuel Chase | Blair | AJ | January 26, 1796 | confirmed | voice vote | January 27, 1796 | Washington |
Oliver Ellsworth | Jay | CJ | March 3, 1796 | confirmed | 21–1 | March 4, 1796 | Washington |
Bushrod Washington | Wilson | AJ | December 19, 1798 | confirmed | voice vote | December 20, 1798 | J. Adams |
Alfred Moore | Iredell | AJ | December 4, 1799 | confirmed | voice vote | December 10, 1799 | J. Adams |
John Jay | Ellsworth | CJ | December 18, 1800 | declined | December 19, 1800 | J. Adams | |
John Marshall | Ellsworth | CJ | January 20, 1801 | confirmed | voice vote | January 27, 1801 | J. Adams |
William Johnson | Moore | AJ | March 22, 1804 | confirmed | voice vote | March 24, 1804 | Jefferson |
Henry Brockholst Livingston | Paterson | AJ | December 13, 1806 | confirmed | voice vote | December 17, 1806 | Jefferson |
Thomas Todd | (new seat) | AJ | February 28, 1807 | confirmed | voice vote | March 2, 1807 | Jefferson |
Levi Lincoln, Sr. | Cushing | AJ | January 2, 1811 | declined | January 3, 1811 | Madison | |
Alexander Wolcott | Cushing | AJ | February 4, 1811 | rejected | 9–24 | February 13, 1811 | Madison |
John Quincy Adams | Cushing | AJ | February 21, 1811 | declined | February 22, 1811 | Madison | |
Joseph Story | Cushing | AJ | November 15, 1811 | confirmed | voice vote | November 18, 1811 | Madison |
Gabriel Duvall | Chase | AJ | November 15, 1811 | confirmed | voice vote | November 18, 1811 | Madison |
Smith Thompson[1] | Livingston | AJ | December 5, 1823 | confirmed | voice vote | December 9, 1823 | Monroe |
Robert Trimble | Todd | AJ | April 11, 1826 | confirmed | 27–5 | May 9, 1826 | J. Q. Adams |
John J. Crittenden | Trimble | AJ | December 17, 1828 | postponed | 23–17 | February 12, 1829 | J. Q. Adams |
John McLean | Trimble | AJ | March 6, 1829 | confirmed | voice vote | March 7, 1829 | Jackson |
Henry Baldwin | Washington | AJ | January 4, 1830 | confirmed | 41–2 | January 6, 1830 | Jackson |
James Moore Wayne | Johnson | AJ | January 6, 1835 | confirmed | voice vote | January 9, 1835 | Jackson |
Roger B. Taney | Duvall | AJ | January 15, 1835 | postponed | 24–21 | March 3, 1835 | Jackson |
Roger B. Taney | Marshall | CJ | December 28, 1835 | confirmed | 29–15 | March 15, 1836 | Jackson |
Philip Pendleton Barbour | Duvall | AJ | December 28, 1835 | confirmed | 30–11 | March 15, 1836 | Jackson |
William Smith | (new seat) | AJ | March 3, 1837 | declined | 23–18 | March 8, 1837 | Jackson |
John Catron | (new seat) | AJ | March 3, 1837 | confirmed | 28–15 | March 8, 1837 | Jackson |
John McKinley | (new seat) | AJ | September 18, 1837 | confirmed | voice vote | September 25, 1837 | Van Buren |
Peter Vivian Daniel | Barbour | AJ | February 26, 1841 | confirmed | 25–5 | March 2, 1841 | Van Buren |
John Canfield Spencer | Thompson | AJ | January 9, 1844 | rejected | 21–26 | January 31, 1844 | Tyler |
Reuben Walworth | Thompson | AJ | March 13, 1844 | withdrawn | 27–20[3] | June 17, 1844 | Tyler |
Edward King | Baldwin | AJ | June 5, 1844 | postponed | 29–18 | June 15, 1844 | Tyler |
John Canfield Spencer | Thompson | AJ | June 17, 1844 | withdrawn | June 17, 1844 | Tyler | |
Reuben Walworth | Thompson | AJ | June 17, 1844 | no action | June 17, 1844[4] | Tyler | |
Edward King | Baldwin | AJ | December 4, 1844 | withdrawn | February 7, 1845 | Tyler | |
Reuben Walworth | Thompson | AJ | December 4, 1844 | withdrawn | February 4, 1845 | Tyler | |
Samuel Nelson | Thompson | AJ | February 4, 1845 | confirmed | voice vote | February 14, 1845 | Tyler |
John M. Read | Baldwin | AJ | February 7, 1845 | no action | Tyler | ||
George Woodward | Baldwin | AJ | December 23, 1845 | rejected | 20–29 | January 22, 1846 | Polk |
Levi Woodbury[1] | Story | AJ | December 23, 1845 | confirmed | voice vote | January 31, 1846 | Polk |
Robert Cooper Grier | Baldwin | AJ | August 3, 1846 | confirmed | voice vote | August 4, 1846 | Polk |
Benjamin Robbins Curtis[1] | Woodbury | AJ | December 11, 1851 | confirmed | voice vote | December 20, 1851 | Fillmore |
Edward A. Bradford | McKinley | AJ | August 16, 1852 | no action | Fillmore | ||
George Edmund Badger | McKinley | AJ | January 3, 1853 | withdrawn | February 14, 1853 | Fillmore | |
William Micou | McKinley | AJ | February 14, 1853 | no action | Fillmore | ||
John Archibald Campbell | McKinley | AJ | March 21, 1853 | confirmed | voice vote | March 22, 1853 | Pierce |
Nathan Clifford | Curtis | AJ | December 9, 1857 | confirmed | 26–23 | January 12, 1858 | Buchanan |
Jeremiah S. Black | Daniel | AJ | February 5, 1861 | no action | 25–26[5] | February 21, 1861 | Buchanan |
Noah Haynes Swayne | McLean | AJ | January 21, 1862 | confirmed | 38–1 | January 24, 1862 | Lincoln |
Samuel Freeman Miller | Daniel | AJ | July 16, 1862 | confirmed | voice vote | July 16, 1862 | Lincoln |
David Davis | Campbell | AJ | December 1, 1862 | confirmed | voice vote | December 8, 1862 | Lincoln |
Stephen Johnson Field | (new seat) | AJ | March 6, 1863 | confirmed | voice vote | March 10, 1863 | Lincoln |
Salmon P. Chase | Taney | CJ | December 6, 1864 | confirmed | voice vote | December 6, 1864 | Lincoln |
Henry Stanberry | Catron | AJ | April 16, 1866 | no action | A. Johnson | ||
Ebenezer R. Hoar | (new seat) | AJ | December 14, 1869 | rejected | 24–33 | February 3, 1870 | Grant |
Edwin M. Stanton | Grier | AJ | December 20, 1869 | confirmed[6] | 46–11 | December 20, 1869 | Grant |
William Strong | Grier | AJ | February 7, 1870 | confirmed | February 18, 1870 | Grant | |
Joseph Philo Bradley | (new seat) | AJ | February 7, 1870 | confirmed | 46–9 | March 21, 1870 | Grant |
Ward Hunt | Nelson | AJ | December 3, 1872 | confirmed | voice vote | December 11, 1872 | Grant |
George Henry Williams | Chase | CJ | December 1, 1873 | withdrawn | January 8, 1874 | Grant | |
Caleb Cushing | Chase | CJ | January 9, 1874 | withdrawn | January 13, 1874 | Grant | |
Morrison Waite | Chase | CJ | January 19, 1874 | confirmed | 63–0 | January 21, 1874 | Grant |
John Marshall Harlan | Davis | AJ | October 16, 1877 | confirmed | voice vote | November 29, 1877 | Hayes |
William Burnham Woods | Strong | AJ | December 15, 1880 | confirmed | 39–8 | December 21, 1880 | Hayes |
Thomas Stanley Matthews | Swayne | AJ | January 26, 1881 | no action | Hayes | ||
Thomas Stanley Matthews | Swayne | AJ | March 14, 1881 | confirmed | 24–23 | May 12, 1881 | Garfield |
Horace Gray | Clifford | AJ | December 19, 1881 | confirmed | 51–5 | December 20, 1881 | Arthur |
Roscoe Conkling | Hunt | AJ | February 24, 1882 | declined | 39–12 | March 2, 1882 | Arthur |
Samuel Blatchford | Hunt | AJ | March 13, 1882 | confirmed | voice vote | March 22, 1882 | Arthur |
Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar | Woods | AJ | December 6, 1887 | confirmed | 32–28 | January 16, 1888 | Cleveland |
Melville Fuller | Waite | CJ | April 30, 1888 | confirmed | 41–20 | July 20, 1888 | Cleveland |
David Josiah Brewer | Matthews | AJ | December 4, 1889 | confirmed | 53–11 | December 18, 1889 | B. Harrison |
Henry Billings Brown | Miller | AJ | December 23, 1890 | confirmed | voice vote | December 29, 1890 | B. Harrison |
George Shiras, Jr. | Bradley | AJ | July 19, 1892 | confirmed | voice vote | July 26, 1892 | B. Harrison |
Howell Edmunds Jackson | Lamar | AJ | February 2, 1893 | confirmed | voice vote | February 18, 1893 | B. Harrison |
William Hornblower | Blatchford | AJ | September 19, 1893 | no action | Cleveland | ||
William Hornblower | Blatchford | AJ | December 5, 1893 | rejected | 24–30 | January 15, 1894 | Cleveland |
Wheeler Hazard Peckham | Blatchford | AJ | January 22, 1894 | rejected | 32–41 | February 16, 1894 | Cleveland |
Edward Douglass White | Blatchford | AJ | February 19, 1894 | confirmed | voice vote | February 19, 1894 | Cleveland |
Rufus Wheeler Peckham | Jackson | AJ | December 3, 1895 | confirmed | voice vote | December 9, 1895 | Cleveland |
Joseph McKenna | Field | AJ | December 16, 1897 | confirmed | voice vote | January 21, 1898 | McKinley |
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.[1] | Gray | AJ | December 2, 1902 | confirmed | voice vote | December 4, 1902 | T. Roosevelt |
William R. Day | Shiras | AJ | February 19, 1903 | confirmed | voice vote | February 23, 1903 | T. Roosevelt |
William Henry Moody | Brown | AJ | December 3, 1906 | confirmed | voice vote | December 12, 1906 | T. Roosevelt |
Horace Harmon Lurton | Peckham | AJ | December 13, 1909 | confirmed | voice vote | December 20, 1909 | Taft |
Charles Evans Hughes | Brewer | AJ | April 25, 1910 | confirmed | voice vote | May 2, 1910 | Taft |
Edward Douglass White[2] | Fuller | CJ | December 12, 1910 | confirmed | voice vote | December 12, 1910 | Taft |
Willis Van Devanter | White | AJ | December 12, 1910 | confirmed | voice vote | December 15, 1910 | Taft |
Joseph Rucker Lamar | Moody | AJ | December 12, 1910 | confirmed | voice vote | December 15, 1910 | Taft |
Mahlon Pitney | Harlan | AJ | February 19, 1912 | confirmed | 50–26 | March 13, 1912 | Taft |
James Clark McReynolds | Lurton | AJ | August 19, 1914 | confirmed | 44–6 | August 29, 1914 | Wilson |
Louis Brandeis | Lamar | AJ | January 28, 1916 | confirmed | 47–22 | June 1, 1916 | Wilson |
John Hessin Clarke | Hughes | AJ | July 14, 1916 | confirmed | voice vote | July 24, 1916 | Wilson |
William Howard Taft | White | CJ | June 30, 1921 | confirmed | voice vote | June 30, 1921 | Harding |
George Sutherland | Clarke | AJ | September 5, 1922 | confirmed | voice vote | September 5, 1922 | Harding |
Pierce Butler | Day | AJ | November 21, 1922 | no action | Harding | ||
Pierce Butler | Day | AJ | December 5, 1922 | confirmed | 61–8 | December 21, 1922 | Harding |
Edward Terry Sanford | Pitney | AJ | January 24, 1923 | confirmed | voice vote | January 29, 1923 | Harding |
Harlan Fiske Stone | McKenna | AJ | January 5, 1925 | confirmed | 71–6 | February 5, 1925 | Coolidge |
Charles Evans Hughes | Taft | CJ | February 3, 1930 | confirmed | 52–26 | February 13, 1930 | Hoover |
John J. Parker | Sanford | AJ | March 21, 1930 | rejected | 39–41 | May 7, 1930 | Hoover |
Owen Josephus Roberts | Sanford | AJ | May 9, 1930 | confirmed | voice vote | May 20, 1930 | Hoover |
Benjamin N. Cardozo | Holmes | AJ | February 15, 1932 | confirmed | voice vote | February 24, 1932 | Hoover |
Hugo Black | Van Devanter | AJ | August 12, 1937 | confirmed | 63–16 | August 17, 1937 | F. Roosevelt |
Stanley Forman Reed | Sutherland | AJ | January 15, 1938 | confirmed | voice vote | January 25, 1938 | F. Roosevelt |
Felix Frankfurter | Cardozo | AJ | January 5, 1939 | confirmed | voice vote | January 17, 1939 | F. Roosevelt |
William O. Douglas | Brandeis | AJ | March 20, 1939 | confirmed | 62–4 | April 4, 1939 | F. Roosevelt |
Frank Murphy | Butler | AJ | January 4, 1940 | confirmed | voice vote | January 16, 1940 | F. Roosevelt |
Harlan Fiske Stone[2] | Hughes | CJ | June 12, 1941 | confirmed | voice vote | June 27, 1941 | F. Roosevelt |
James F. Byrnes | McReynolds | AJ | June 12, 1941 | confirmed | voice vote | June 12, 1941 | F. Roosevelt |
Robert H. Jackson | Stone | AJ | June 12, 1941 | confirmed | voice vote | July 7, 1941 | F. Roosevelt |
Wiley Blount Rutledge | Byrnes | AJ | January 11, 1943 | confirmed | voice vote | February 8, 1943 | F. Roosevelt |
Harold Hitz Burton | Roberts | AJ | September 19, 1945 | confirmed | voice vote | September 19, 1945 | Truman |
Fred M. Vinson | Stone | CJ | June 6, 1946 | confirmed | voice vote | June 20, 1946 | Truman |
Tom C. Clark | Murphy | AJ | August 2, 1949 | confirmed | 73–8 | August 18, 1949 | Truman |
Sherman Minton | Rutledge | AJ | September 15, 1949 | confirmed | 48–16 | October 4, 1949 | Truman |
Earl Warren[1] | Vinson | CJ | January 11, 1954 | confirmed | voice vote | March 1, 1954 | Eisenhower |
John Marshall Harlan II | Jackson | AJ | November 9, 1954 | no action | Eisenhower | ||
John Marshall Harlan II | Jackson | AJ | January 10, 1955 | confirmed | 71–11 | March 16, 1955 | Eisenhower |
William J. Brennan[1] | Minton | AJ | January 14, 1957 | confirmed | voice vote | March 19, 1957 | Eisenhower |
Charles Evans Whittaker | Reed | AJ | March 2, 1957 | confirmed | voice vote | March 19, 1957 | Eisenhower |
Potter Stewart[1] | Burton | AJ | January 17, 1959 | confirmed | 70–17 | May 5, 1959 | Eisenhower |
Byron White | Whittaker | AJ | April 3, 1962 | confirmed | voice vote | April 11, 1962 | Kennedy |
Arthur Goldberg | Frankfurter | AJ | August 31, 1962 | confirmed | voice vote | September 25, 1962 | Kennedy |
Abe Fortas | Goldberg | AJ | July 28, 1965 | confirmed | voice vote | August 11, 1965 | L. Johnson |
Thurgood Marshall | Clark | AJ | June 13, 1967 | confirmed | 69–11 | August 30, 1967 | L. Johnson |
Abe Fortas[2] | Warren | CJ | June 26, 1968 | withdrawn | October 4, 1968 | L. Johnson | |
Homer Thornberry | Fortas | AJ | June 26, 1968 | no action | L. Johnson | ||
Warren E. Burger | Warren | CJ | May 23, 1969 | confirmed | 74–3 | June 9, 1969 | Nixon |
Clement Haynsworth | Fortas | AJ | August 21, 1969 | rejected | 45–55 | November 21, 1969 | Nixon |
Harold Carswell | Fortas | AJ | January 19, 1970 | rejected | 45–51 | April 8, 1970 | Nixon |
Harry Blackmun | Fortas | AJ | April 15, 1970 | confirmed | 94–0 | May 12, 1970 | Nixon |
Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. | Black | AJ | October 22, 1971 | confirmed | 89–1 | December 6, 1971 | Nixon |
William Rehnquist | Harlan | AJ | October 22, 1971 | confirmed | 68–26 | December 10, 1971 | Nixon |
John Paul Stevens | Douglas | AJ | November 28, 1975 | confirmed | 98–0 | December 17, 1975 | Ford |
Sandra Day O'Connor | Stewart | AJ | August 19, 1981 | confirmed | 99–0 | September 21, 1981 | Reagan |
William Rehnquist[2] | Burger | CJ | June 20, 1986 | confirmed | 65–33 | September 17, 1986 | Reagan |
Antonin Scalia | Rehnquist | AJ | June 24, 1986 | confirmed | 98–0 | September 17, 1986 | Reagan |
Robert Bork | Powell | AJ | July 1, 1987 | rejected | 42–58 | October 23, 1987 | Reagan |
Anthony Kennedy | Powell | AJ | November 30, 1987 | confirmed | 97–0 | February 3, 1988 | Reagan |
David Souter | Brennan | AJ | July 25, 1990 | confirmed | 90–9 | October 2, 1990 | G. H. W. Bush |
Clarence Thomas | Marshall | AJ | July 8, 1991 | confirmed | 52–48 | October 15, 1991 | G. H. W. Bush |
Ruth Bader Ginsburg | White | AJ | June 14, 1993 | confirmed | 96–3 | August 3, 1993 | Clinton |
Stephen Breyer | Blackmun | AJ | May 17, 1994 | confirmed | 87–9 | July 29, 1994 | Clinton |
John Roberts | O'Connor | AJ | July 29, 2005 | withdrawn | September 6, 2005 | G. W. Bush | |
John Roberts | Rehnquist | CJ | September 6, 2005 | confirmed | 78–22 | September 29, 2005 | G. W. Bush |
Harriet Miers | O'Connor | AJ | October 7, 2005 | withdrawn | October 28, 2005 | G. W. Bush | |
Samuel Alito | O'Connor | AJ | November 10, 2005 | confirmed | 58–42 | January 31, 2006 | G. W. Bush |
Sonia Sotomayor | Souter | AJ | June 1, 2009 | confimed | 68–31 | August 6, 2009 | Obama |
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g h Nominee was serving on the Court under a recess appointment when the nomination was made.
- ^ a b c d Nominee was a sitting associate justice who was nominated to the Chief Justiceship.
- ^ On June 15, 1844, a move was made to table the nomination. The tally of 27–20 is the result of that motion. The nomination was subsequently withdrawn on June 17.
- ^ On this date a motion was made to consider the nomination, but the motion died without a vote when an objection was made.
- ^ The Senate never considered his nomination. A motion to consider it was rejected by the listed 25-26 vote.
- ^ Stanton was confirmed, but died before he could take office.
References
- "Supreme Court Nominations". Official website of the United States Senate. Retrieved February 3.
{{cite web}}
: Check date values in:|accessdate=
(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=
ignored (|access-date=
suggested) (help)