Unsuccessful Nominations To The Supreme Court Of The United States
Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are nominated by the President and are then confirmed by the Senate. Presidential administrations are listed with any unsuccessful Supreme Court nominees—that is, individuals who were nominated and who either declined their own nomination, failed the confirmation vote in the Senate, or whose nomination was withdrawn by the president.
As of 2010, 151 people have been nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court. Twenty-nine nominations (which includes one promotion) have been unsuccessful on at least the first try. Of those 29:
- 12 were fully considered and formally rejected by the Senate.
- 7 (including a nomination of an Associate Justice for Chief Justice) were withdrawn by the President before a formal consideration could be taken by the Senate.
- One of these nominations was withdrawn because of the Ineligibility Clause, but was confirmed after its applicability was no longer an issue.
- 5 had no action taken on them.
- One of these was because of a change in the Presidency, but the nomination was resubmitted by the incoming President and confirmed.
- 3 had formal votes on the nominations were postponed.
- One of these nominations was reconsidered after a change in Senate composition and confirmed.
- 2 had nominations nullified by other circumstances without being formally considered.
Read more about Unsuccessful Nominations To The Supreme Court Of The United States: George Washington, James Madison, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, John Tyler, James K. Polk, James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, Grover Cleveland, Herbert Hoover, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Table
Famous quotes containing the words united states, unsuccessful, supreme, court, united and/or states:
“I am colored but I offer nothing in the way of extenuating circumstances except the fact that I am the only Negro in the United States whose grandfather on the mother’s side was not an Indian chief.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“Historian—An unsuccessful novelist.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“Alcohol doesn’t console, it doesn’t fill up anyone’s psychological gaps, all it replaces is the lack of God. It doesn’t comfort man. On the contrary, it encourages him in his folly, it transports him to the supreme regions where he is master of his own destiny.”
—Marguerite Duras (b. 1914)
“Fortunately for those who pay their court through such foibles, a fond mother, though, in pursuit of praise for her children, the most rapacious of human beings, is likewise the most credulous; her demands are exorbitant; but she will swallow any thing.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)
“... it is probable that in a fit of generosity the men of the United States would have enfranchised its women en masse; and the government now staggering under the ballots of ignorant, irresponsible men, must have gone down under the additional burden of the votes which would have been thrown upon it, by millions of ignorant, irresponsible women.”
—Jane Grey Swisshelm (1815–1884)
“If I be false, or swerve a hair from truth,
When time is old and hath forgot itself,
When waterdrops have worn the stones of Troy,
And blind oblivion swallowed cities up,
And mighty states characterless are grated
To dusty nothing, yet let memory
From false to false among false maids in love
Upbraid my falsehood.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)