Richard Nixon Supreme Court candidates
President Richard Nixon entered office in 1969 with Chief Justice Earl Warren having announced his retirement from the Supreme Court of the United States the previous year.
Many speculated that President Richard Nixon would elevate sitting Justice Potter Stewart to the post, some going so far as to call him the frontrunner.
Nixon's agreement with these views, being expressed by a readily confirmable, sitting federal appellate judge, led to the appointment.
[4] Senators Eugene McCarthy (DFL-MN), Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) and Stephen Young (D-OH) voted against the nomination.
"[4] In total, 22 senators did not vote on the nomination, with Minority Whip Hugh Scott (R-PA) noting that of the senators absent, Marlow Cook (R-KY), Hiram Fong (R-HI), Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), Jacob Javits (R-NY), George Murphy (R-CA), Charles Percy (R-IL) and Winston Prouty (R-VT) would have all voted to pass the nomination.
Carswell was praised by Southern Senators including Richard B. Russell, Jr., but was criticized by others for the high reversal rate (58%) of his decisions as a District Court Judge.
Civil-rights advocates also questioned his civil rights record; in 1948, Carswell had voiced support for racial segregation while running for a seat in the Georgia state legislature (in his hometown, Irwinton, Georgia; Carswell did not win the election and moved to Florida where he started his career as a private attorney).
[13] Senators Birch Bayh (D-IN), Al Gore, Sr. (D-TN), Richard Russell, Jr. (D-GA), Barry Goldwater (R-AZ), Karl E. Mundt (R-SD), and John Tower (R-TX) did not vote.
John Dean wrote that Poff actually made that decision based on concerns that he would thus be forced to reveal to his then-12-year-old son Thomas that he had been adopted.
[15][16] In mid-October, Nixon's White House released a list of six potential candidates for the two seats, to which Time Magazine responded with a scathing editorial,[17] stating that Nixon had an "opportunity to redress the embarrassment of his two unsuccessful Supreme Court nominations," but that the names released "demonstrated his inability or unwillingness to nominate renowned jurists to the highest tribunal in the land.
Powell remained unsure, but Nixon and his Attorney General, John N. Mitchell, persuaded him that joining the Court was his duty to his nation.
[19] Senators Wallace F. Bennett (R-UT), Peter H. Dominick (R-CO), David H. Gambrell (D-GA), Hubert Humphrey (DFL-MN), Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Jack Miller (R-IA), Frank Moss (D-UT), Karl E. Mundt (R-SD), Charles Percy (R-IL) and Robert Stafford (R-VT) did not vote.
The loudest concerns were voiced by Senators Birch Bayh (D-IN) and Philip Hart (D-MI), who brought up that Rehnquist's nomination was opposed by a record number of unions and organizations, including the AFL–CIO, the United Auto Workers, and the NAACP.
[20] In addition to Percy, Clinton P. Anderson (D-NM), Wallace F. Bennett (R-UT), Karl E. Mundt (R-SD) and Margaret Chase Smith (R-ME) did not vote.
Following is a list of individuals who were mentioned in various news accounts and books as having been considered by Nixon for a Supreme Court appointment:
