Nixon considered Mildred Lillie for nomination, but according to former White House Counsel John Dean, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger was deeply opposed to the idea of a woman on the court at the time.

President Gerald Ford, who had led an impeachment inquiry against Douglas in 1970 when he was the House Republican Leader, appointed John Paul Stevens to replace him.

Presidents during this court included Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Ronald Reagan.

[9] During his time on the court, Blackmun shifted from the right towards the center and eventually the left, allowing liberals to claim more victories as the 1970s continued.

[9] Nonetheless, Justice Brennan was often credited for winning the votes of the more centrist judges, especially Stevens, with his intellectual leadership.

[10] Although Burger was often overshadowed by the intellectual leadership of Brennan and Rehnquist, he earned a reputation as important judicial administrator who helped to create institutions such as the National Center for State Courts.

[11] More prosaically, publisher Larry Flynt, whose magazine Hustler was the subject of litigation in 1984, characterized the Burger Court as "nothing but eight assholes and a token cunt".