In 1971, she was considered by President Richard Nixon for nomination as the first woman on the Supreme Court of the United States; however, an "unqualified" rating from the American Bar Association derailed that bid.
Mildred Loree Kluckhohn was born in Ida Grove, Iowa, but moved with her mother to California's San Joaquin Valley as a child following her parents' failed marriage.
She worked at a local cannery during the Great Depression and later as both a cook and a floor detective at Sears to earn her tuition to law school.
In 1971, President Richard Nixon had two seats on the Supreme Court to fill with the retirements of John Marshall Harlan and Hugo Black.
Nixon floated Lillie and Arkansas bond lawyer Herschel Friday as potential nominees for the open seats.
Nixon also proposed Senator Robert C. Byrd, Judges Sylvia Bacon, Charles Clark and Paul Hitch Roney for the seat.
In his report to the president, he noted that California Governor Pat Brown turned her down for a seat on the state supreme court because she was too conservative.
[3] In a 2009 interview at the Miller Center for Public Affairs Tribe repeated his criticism saying that she was "both right wing and stupid" and that she had written seven opinions that were reversed by the California Supreme Court.