USA TODAY International Edition
History full of high-court fights
Trump not first president to encounter obstacles
WASHINGTON – Donald Trump is far from the first president to run into trouble with his Supreme Court nominee.
Trump is trying to salvage the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh amid allegations that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted a girl when he was 17. Kavanaugh has called the allegation “completely false,” and Trump is standing by his nominee.
A look back shows that more than three dozens nominees to the high court failed to get Senate confirmation, and others were approved only after bitter battles.
In the 229-year history of the U.S. Supreme Court, presidents have submitted 163 nominations to the U.S. Senate. Of those, 125 were confirmed and 38 were rejected, withdrawn, postponed or never acted upon, according to a list compiled by Senate historians on the official Senate website.
Here’s a look at some of the nominations that proved to be contentious:
Merrick Garland
President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland, the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, in March 2016 to fill the vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Obama chose Garland in part because he viewed him as noncontroversial enough to be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate.
However, GOP Senate leaders, without criticizing Garland’s credentials, refused to bring Garland’s nomination to the Senate floor for a vote. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., hoping for a Republican victory in the 2016 presidential election, argued that the vacancy should be filled by the next president.
McConnnell got his wish, and the Senate confirmed Trump-nominee Neil Gorsuch in 2017.
Clarence Thomas
Thomas, a Supreme Court justice, was nominated by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. He was narrowly confirmed by a vote of 52-48 after attorney Anita Hill accused him of sexually harassing her when he was her supervisor at two federal civil rights organizations.
Thomas denied Hill’s accusations and angrily protested that he was being subjected, through televised Senate hearings, to a “high-tech lynching.” The hearings helped mobilize women’s rights groups, which complained that male senators from both parties did not take Hill seriously or treat her with proper respect.
Robert Bork
President Ronald Reagan nominated appeals court Judge Robert Bork in 1987, sparking a bitter partisan battle that, in many ways, previewed the current fight over Kavanaugh’s nomination.
The Senate’s Democratic majority, led by powerful Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, said Bork would undermine hard-won rights for women and minorities.
Bork’s confirmation failed by a vote of 42-58 in the Senate, a result that still angers conservatives who believe Bork was a brilliant jurist who was unfairly maligned.
Reagan ultimately won confirmation of Anthony Kennedy, whose retirement this year led to Kavanaugh’s nomination.
G. Harrold Carswell and Clement Haynsworth Jr.
President Richard Nixon had two Supreme Court nominees rejected by the Senate, the first rejections since 1930.
Haynsworth, nominated in 1969, was rejected amid controversies over his judicial ethics, including questions about his ruling in favor of a company that did business with a company in which he owned an interest.
Haynsworth also was criticized by civil rights groups and labor unions for his stances on issues of racial equality and worker rights, according to the nonpartisan National Constitution Center.
Carswell, who was nominated in 1970, was also criticized for his past support for racial segregation and white supremacy, according to the center. Supporters said he, like Haynsworth, was being penalized for views he no longer held.
John J. Parker
President Herbert Hoover’s 1930 nominee, U.S. appellate Judge John J. Parker, was rejected 39-41 by a Senate controlled by Hoover’s own Republican Party.
Parker’s nomination was derailed because of his perceived racist and antilabor views, according to a summary on the Senate’s website.
The latter was based on his decision in a 1927 case involving the United Mine Workers of America and “yellow dog contracts,” which forced workers to promise not to join unions. The charge of racism was rooted in a statement Parker made during his 1920 campaign for governor of North Carolina.
“The participation of the Negro in politics, is a source of evil and danger to both races and is not desired by the wise men in either race,” Parker said. He was the only nominee to be rejected in a 74year stretch between 1894 and 1968.
John Rutledge
Even the father of the country had problems getting all his Supreme Court nominees confirmed.
President George Washington nominated John Rutledge of South Carolina in 1795. The Senate rejected him after Rutledge expressed his opposition to a treaty between the United States and Great Britain that sought to resolve outstanding issues dating to the American revolution.
The treaty was unpopular with the public at the time, but it was approved by the Senate, which did not appreciate Rutledge’s fierce opposition, according to Oyez, a free law project from Cornell’s Legal Information Institute, Justia, and the Chicago-Kent College of Law.