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and who either declined their own nomination, failed the confirmation vote in the Senate, or whose nomination was withdrawn by the president.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- 7 (including a nomination of an Associate Justice for Chief Justice) were withdrawn by the President before a formal consideration could be taken by the Senate.
- One of these nominations was withdrawn because of the Ineligibility Clause, but was confirmed after its applicability was no longer an issue.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
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“To be President of the United States, sir, is to act as advocate for a blind, venomous, and ungrateful client; still, one must make the best of the case, for the purposes of Providence.”
—John Updike (b. 1932)
“In the United States adherence to the values of the masculine mystique makes intimate, self-revealing, deep friendships between men unusual.”
—Myriam Miedzian, U.S. author. Boys Will Be Boys, introduction (1991)
“Historian—An unsuccessful novelist.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“And what do I care if she marries another? every other night I dream of her dresses and things on an endless clothesline of bliss, in a ceaseless wind of possession, and her husband shall never learn what I do to the silks and fleece of the dancing witch. This is love’s supreme accomplishment. I am happy—yes, happy! What more can I do to prove it, how to proclaim that I am happy? Oh, to shout it so that all of you believe me at last, you cruel, smug people.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)
“GOETHE, raised o’er joy and strife,
Drew the firm lines of Fate and Life,
And brought Olympian wisdom down
To court and mar, to gown and town,
Stooping, his finger wrote in clay
The open secret of to-day.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“During the first World War women in the United States had a chance to try their capacities in wider fields of executive leadership in industry. Must we always wait for war to give us opportunity? And must the pendulum always swing back in the busy world of work and workers during times of peace?”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877–?)