John Rutledge Supreme Court nominations

On September 24, 1789, George Washington nominated Rutledge for one of the five associate justice positions on the newly established Supreme Court.

[citation needed] Rutledge's service on the Court officially began February 15, 1790, when he took the judicial oath, and continued until March 5, 1791.

In 1795, Rutlege was unsuccessfully nominated to the court to serve as chief justice, after having been first given a recess appointment by President Washington to the position in August 1795.

[2][6] President Washington formally nominated Rutlege on December 10, 1795, to a lifetime appointment as chief justice.

[4] Soon after the Senate's rejection of his nomination to the Supreme Court, on December 26, 1795, Rutledge attempted suicide by jumping off a wharf into Charleston Harbor.

[17] Regarding the Senate's rejection of Rutledge's nomination, Vice President John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail that it "gave me pain for an old friend, though I could not but think he deserved it.