Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 - 2005: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President

Publication Date: January 2006

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Justice

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Abstract:

The process of appointing Supreme Court Justices has undergone changes over two centuries, but its most basic feature -- the sharing of power between the President and Senate -- has remained unchanged. To receive a lifetime appointment to the Court, a candidate must first be nominated by the President and then confirmed by the Senate. An important role also has come to be played midway in the process (after the President selects, but before the Senate considers) by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Table 1 of this report lists and describes actions taken by the Senate, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the President on all Supreme Court nominations, from 1789 to the present. The table provides the name of each person nominated to the Court and the name of the President making the nomination. It also tracks the dates of formal actions taken, and time elapsing between these actions, by the Senate or Senate Judiciary Committee on each nomination, starting with the date that the Senate received the nomination from the President. For another perspective on Supreme Court nominations, focusing, among other things, on when the Senate first became aware of each President's nominee selections (e.g.,via public announcements of the President), see CRS Report RL33118, Speed of Presidential and Senate Actions on Supreme Court Nominations, 1900-2005, by R. Sam Garrett, Denis Steven Rutkus, and Curtis W. Copeland.

Thirty-nine of the 42 Presidents in the history of the United States have made a total of 158 nominations to the Supreme Court, and the Senate has confirmed 121 of them (with one now pending before the Senate). Of the 36 unsuccessful nominations, 11 were rejected in Senate roll-call votes, while nearly all of the rest, in the face of committee or Senate opposition to the nominee or the President, were withdrawn by the President, or were postponed, tabled, or never voted on by the Senate. A total of 114 of the 158 nominations were referred to a Senate committee, with 113 of them to the Judiciary Committee (including almost all nominations since 1868). Prior to 1916, the Judiciary Committee considered Supreme Court nominations behind closed doors. Since 1946, however, almost all nominees have received public confirmation hearings. Most recent hearings have lasted four or more days. Since 1967, a median of 37 days elapsed between the Senate's receipt of a Supreme Court nomination and a final committee vote. The Senate has confirmed about three-quarters of the 157 nominations it has received since 1789 (not including the pending 158th nomination), with 11 rejected in roll-call votes, 11 withdrawn by the President, and 14 lapsed at the end of a session of Congress.

This report will be updated at the conclusion of the current nomination and confirmation process.