During President
Ronald Reagan
's presidency,
he nominated
two people for
the Supreme Court
and at least twelve people for various
federal appellate judgeships
who were not confirmed. In some cases, the nominations were not processed by the
Democratic
-controlled
Senate Judiciary Committee
before Reagan's presidency ended, while in other cases, nominees were rejected by the Senate Judiciary Committee or even blocked by unfriendly members of the
Republican Party
. Three of the nominees were renominated by Reagan's successor, President
George H. W. Bush
. Two of the nominees, Ferdinand Francis Fernandez and Guy G. Hurlbutt, were nominated after July 1, 1988, the traditional start date of the unofficial
Thurmond Rule
during a presidential election year. Eight of the thirteen seats eventually were filled by appointees of President George H. W. Bush.
List of unsuccessful federal judicial nominations
[
edit
]
Reagan made 32 nominations for federal judgeships that were not confirmed by the Senate. Of these, one,
Robert Bork
, was rejected by the Senate and 9 were withdrawn by Reagan, while the other 22 expired at an adjournment of the Senate, including 16 that were pending at the close of the
100th Congress
. Seven of his unsuccessful nominees were subsequently nominated to federal judgeships by other presidents, and all 7 were confirmed.
Nominee
|
Court
|
Nomination
date
|
Date of
final action
|
Final action
|
Subsequent federal judicial nominations
|
Seat filled by
|
Ref.
|
Supreme Court
|
Robert Bork
|
SCOTUS
|
July 7, 1987
|
October 23, 1987
|
rejected by the Senate
|
|
Anthony Kennedy
|
[1]
|
Courts of appeals
|
Sherman Unger
|
Fed. Cir.
|
December 15, 1982
|
November 22, 1983
|
returned to the president
|
|
Jean Galloway Bissell
|
[2]
[3]
[4]
|
Paul M. Bator
|
D.C. Cir.
|
August 1, 1984
|
September 6, 1984
|
withdrawn by Pres. Reagan
|
Laurence Silberman
|
[5]
|
Bernard Siegan
|
9th Cir.
|
February 2, 1987
|
September 16, 1988
|
withdrawn by Pres. Reagan
|
Ferdinand Fernandez
|
[6]
|
Susan Liebeler
|
Fed. Cir.
|
March 23, 1987
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
S. Jay Plager
|
[7]
|
Dave Treen
|
5th Cir.
|
July 22, 1987
|
May 10, 1988
|
withdrawn by Pres. Reagan
|
John M. Duhe Jr.
|
[8]
|
Stuart A. Summit
|
2nd Cir.
|
September 23, 1987
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
John M. Walker Jr.
|
[9]
|
Judith Richards Hope
|
D.C. Cir.
|
April 14, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
Clarence Thomas
|
[10]
|
Pamela Ann Rymer
|
9th Cir.
|
April 26, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
9th Cir.
(nominated February 28, 1989, confirmed May 18,1989)
|
Herself
|
[11]
|
Jacques L. Wiener Jr.
|
5th Cir.
|
June 27, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
5th Cir.
(nominated November 17, 1989, confirmed May 9, 1990)
|
Himself
|
[12]
|
Guy G. Hurlbutt
|
9th Cir.
|
August 11, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
|
Thomas G. Nelson
|
[13]
|
Ferdinand Fernandez
|
9th Cir.
|
September 16, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
9th Cir.
(nominated February 28, 1989, confirmed May 18,1989)
|
Himself
|
[14]
|
District courts
|
Morton R. Galane
|
D. Nev.
|
July 21, 1983
|
October 18, 1983
|
withdrawn by Pres. Reagan
|
|
Lloyd D. George
|
[15]
[16]
|
Albert I. Moon Jr.
|
D. Haw.
|
October 16, 1985
|
January 2, 1986
|
returned to the president
|
Alan Cooke Kay
|
[17]
|
Jeff Sessions
|
S.D. Ala.
|
October 23, 1985
|
July 31, 1986
|
withdrawn by Pres. Reagan
|
Alex T. Howard Jr.
|
[18]
[19]
|
James Kenneth Porter
|
E.D. Tenn.
|
July 30, 1986
|
October 18, 1986
|
returned to the president
|
Robert Leon Jordan
|
[20]
|
Robert N. Miller
|
D. Colo.
|
February 5, 1987
|
February 2, 1988
|
withdrawn by Pres. Reagan
|
Edward Nottingham
|
[21]
|
Robert Roberto Jr.
|
E.D.N.Y.
|
November 25, 1987
|
July 26, 1988
|
withdrawn by Pres. Reagan
|
Arthur Spatt
|
[22]
|
Vaughn Walker
|
N.D. Cal.
|
December 19, 1987
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
N.D. Cal.
(nominated February 28, 1989, confirmed November 22, 1989)
|
Himself
|
[23]
|
Alfred C. Schmutzer Jr.
|
E.D. Tenn.
|
December 19, 1987
|
March 28, 1988
|
withdrawn by Pres. Reagan
|
|
Robert Leon Jordan
|
[24]
|
Howard E. Levitt
|
E.D.N.Y.
|
December 22, 1987
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
Carol Amon
|
[25]
|
Donald E. Abram
|
D. Colo.
|
February 19, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
Edward Nottingham
|
[26]
|
Shannon T. Mason Jr.
|
E.D. Va.
|
February 22, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
Rebecca Beach Smith
|
[27]
|
James R. McGregor
|
W.D. Pa.
|
March 14, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
Donald J. Lee
|
[28]
|
William H. Erickson
|
D. Colo.
|
March 23, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
Daniel B. Sparr
|
[29]
|
Robert C. Bonner
|
C.D. Cal.
|
June 15, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
C.D. Cal.
(nominated February 28, 1989, confirmed May 18, 1989)
|
Himself
|
[30]
|
Melinda Harmon
|
S.D. Tex.
|
June 23, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
S.D. Tex.
(nominated February 28, 1989, confirmed May 18, 1989)
|
Herself
|
[31]
|
Marvin J. Garbis
|
D. Md.
|
July 6, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
D. Md.
(nominated August 4, 1989, confirmed October 24, 1989)
|
Himself
|
[32]
|
Article I courts
|
J. Harlan Stamper Jr.
|
T.C.
|
July 12, 1982
|
September 23, 1982
|
withdrawn by Pres. Reagan
|
|
Charles Clapp
|
[33]
|
Joseph V. Colaianni
|
Cl. Ct.
|
November 19, 1982
|
December 27, 1982
|
returned to the president
|
Loren A. Smith
|
[34]
|
Robert Charrow
|
Cl. Ct.
|
February 2, 1987
|
August 10, 1987
|
returned to the president
|
Randall Ray Rader
|
[35]
|
Article IV courts
|
Adriane J. Dudley
|
D.V.I.
|
June 20, 1988
|
October 22, 1988
|
returned to the president
|
|
Thomas K. Moore
|
[36]
|
Failed nominees
[
edit
]
Others who were considered for nomination
[
edit
]
In 1981, Reagan strongly and publicly had considered nominating
Hallmark Cards
attorney
Judith Whittaker
, who is the daughter-in-law of the late Supreme Court associate justice
Charles Evans Whittaker
, to a vacancy on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
that had been created by the decision by
Floyd Robert Gibson
to take
senior status
. Whittaker, a Republican, was dropped from consideration in December 1982 before being formally nominated, amid grassroots concerns among conservatives about Whittaker’s support of the
Equal Rights Amendment
and published rumors suggesting that she favored abortion rights.
[37]
[38]
Ultimately, the White House nominated
John R. Gibson
in 1982 to the seat, and he was confirmed by the
United States Senate
.
In 1982, Reagan strongly and publicly had considered nominating New Orleans lawyer Ben C. Toledano to a seat on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
to replace
Robert A. Ainsworth Jr.
, who had died in 1981. Toledano was recommended for the position by Louisiana’s Republican leadership, including then
Governor
David C. Treen
. However, Toledano’s nomination was opposed by local and state chapters of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
and a local group of African-American attorneys, who cited Toledano’s involvement in his twenties as an active supporter of
racial segregation
and his efforts to organize the segregationist
States' Rights Party
of Louisiana. (A number of prominent Louisiana blacks supported the nomination.) In December 1982, Reagan’s
Counsel to the President
,
Fred Fielding
, wrote in a memo that the joint White House-Justice Department working group “has identified Benjamin C. Toledano ... as a well-qualified candidate for nomination to the existing vacancy on the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. However, we believe the facts described below should be brought to your personal attention before further action occurs on the part of this prospective nominee.” Fielding’s memo described Toledano’s past and the opposition to his nomination by a committee of the
American Bar Association
. Several days later, the White House informed Toledano that it would not proceed with his nomination, and evidence shows that Reagan himself personally made the decision.
[39]
Reagan wound up nominating
W. Eugene Davis
to the seat, and he was confirmed in 1983.
[40]
Failed nomination of Jeff Sessions to district court
[
edit
]
In 1986, Reagan nominated
Jeff Sessions
to be a judge of the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama
.
[41]
Sessions' nomination was recommended and actively backed by Alabama Republican Senator
Jeremiah Denton
.
[42]
A substantial majority of the
American Bar Association
Standing Committee on the Federal Judiciary, which rates nominees to the federal bench, rated Sessions "qualified", with a minority voting that Sessions was "not qualified".
[43]
At Sessions' confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee, four
Department of Justice
lawyers who had worked with Sessions testified that he had made several
racist
statements. One of those lawyers, J. Gerald Hebert, testified that Sessions had referred to the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP) and the
American Civil Liberties Union
(ACLU) as "un-American" and "
Communist
-inspired" because they "forced
civil rights
down the throats of people".
[44]
Thomas Figures
, a black Assistant U.S. Attorney, testified that Sessions said he thought the
Ku Klux Klan
was "OK until I found out they smoked
pot
". Sessions later said that the comment was not serious, but apologized for it.
[45]
Figures also testified that on one occasion, when the
Civil Rights Division
sent the office instructions to investigate a case that Sessions had tried to close, Figures and Sessions "had a very spirited discussion regarding how the Hodge case should then be handled; in the course of that argument, Mr. Sessions threw the file on a table, and remarked, "I wish I could decline on all of them,"" by which Figures said Sessions meant civil rights cases generally. After becoming Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, Sessions was asked in an interview about his civil rights record as a U.S. Attorney. He denied that he had not sufficiently pursued civil rights cases, saying that "when I was [a U.S. Attorney], I signed 10 pleadings attacking
segregation
or the remnants of segregation, where we as part of the Department of Justice, we sought
desegregation
remedies."
[46]
Figures also said that Sessions had called him "boy".
[41]
He also testified that Sessions "admonished me to 'be careful what you say to white folks.'"
[47]
Sessions was also reported to have called a white civil rights attorney a "disgrace to his race".
[48]
Sessions responded to the testimony by denying the allegations, saying his remarks were taken out of context or meant in jest, and also stating that groups could be considered un-American when "they involve themselves in un-American positions" on
foreign policy
. Sessions said during testimony that he considered the Klan to be "a force for hatred and bigotry". In regards to the marijuana quote, Sessions said the comment was a joke but apologized.
[45]
In response to a question from
Joe Biden
on whether he had called the NAACP and other civil rights organizations "un-American", Sessions replied "I'm often loose with my tongue. I may have said something about the NAACP being un-American or Communist, but I meant no harm by it."
[43]
On June 5, 1986, the committee voted 10?8 against recommending the nomination, with Republican Senators
Charles Mathias
of
Maryland
and
Arlen Specter
of
Pennsylvania
voting with the Democrats. It then split 9?9 on a vote to send Sessions' nomination to the Senate floor with no recommendation, this time with Specter in support. A majority was required for the nomination to proceed.
[49]
The pivotal votes against Sessions came from his home state's Democratic Senator
Howell Heflin
. Although Heflin had previously backed Sessions, he began to oppose Sessions after hearing testimony, concluding that there were "reasonable doubts" over Sessions' ability to be fair and impartial. The nomination was withdrawn on July 31, 1986.
[43]
Sessions became only the second nominee to the
federal judiciary
in 48 years whose nomination was killed by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
[45]
The seat would be filled by another Reagan nominee
Alex T. Howard Jr.
Sessions was later elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, and re-elected in 2002, 2008 and 2014, and in November 2016 became President
Donald Trump
's nominee for Attorney General.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"PN487 ? Robert H. Bork ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1552 ? Sherman E. Unger ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN218 ? Sherman E. Unger ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN462 ? Sherman E. Unger ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1036 ? Paul M. Bator ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN101 ? Bernard H. Siegan ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN200 ? Susan Wittenberg Liebeler ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN514 ? David C. Treen ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN625 ? Stuart A. Summit ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN995 ? Judith Richards Hope ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1026 ? Pamela Ann Rymer ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1208 ? Jacques L. Wiener Jr. ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1317 ? Guy G. Hurlbutt ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1361 ? Ferdinand F. Fernandez ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN380 ? Morton R. Galane ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN463 ? Morton R. Galane ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN662 ? Albert I. Moon Jr. ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN682 ? Jefferson B. Sessions III ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN876-2 ? Jefferson B. Sessions III ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1269 ? James Kenneth Porter ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN119 ? Robert N. Miller ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN705 ? Robert Roberto Jr. ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN774 ? Vaughn R. Walker ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN778 ? Alfred C. Schmutzer Jr. ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN786 ? Howard E. Levitt ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN863 ? Donald E. Abram ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN867 ? Shannon T. Mason Jr. ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN886 ? James R. McGregor ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN934 ? William H. Erickson ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1168 ? Robert C. Bonner ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1195 ? Melinda Harmon ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1211 ? Marvin J. Garbis ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1259-3 ? James Harlan Stamper Jr. ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1492 ? Joseph V. Colaianni ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN95 ? Robert P. Charrow ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"PN1175 ? Adriane J. Dudley ? The Judiciary"
.
Congress.gov
.
- ^
"Woman Off List For Judgeship"
.
The New York Times
. December 24, 1981
. Retrieved
May 22,
2010
.
- ^
Bowen, Ezra (April 18, 2005).
"Law: Judges with Their Minds Right"
.
Time
. Archived from
the original
on October 26, 2012
. Retrieved
May 22,
2010
.
- ^
Goldman, Sheldon
(1997).
Picking Federal Judges
.
Yale University Press
. pp.
295?296
.
ISBN
0-300-06962-6
.
- ^
"Judges of the United States Courts"
.
www.fjc.gov
. Archived from
the original
on 2003-08-02.
- ^
a
b
Wildman, Sarah (May 5, 2009).
"Jeff Sessions's chequered past"
.
The Guardian
.
- ^
Glen Elsasser (March 29, 1986).
"Judicial Nomination In Deep Trouble"
.
Chicago Tribune
.
- ^
a
b
c
Goldman, Sheldon
(1999).
Picking Federal Judges
.
Yale University Press
. p. 309.
ISBN
9780300080735
.
- ^
Wildman, Sarah (December 30, 2002).
"Closed Sessions. The senator who's worse than Lott"
.
The New Republic
. Retrieved
August 4,
2009
.
- ^
a
b
c
Rudin, Ken
;
National Public Radio
(May 5, 2009).
"Blog: Specter Helped Defeat Sessions In 1986 Judiciary Vote"
.
Political Junkie
. NPR
. Retrieved
August 4,
2009
.
(
blog
)
- ^
"Q&A Jeff Sessions: Sessions Says He's Looking For Judicial Restraint"
.
National Journal
. Insider Interviews. May 7, 2009. Archived from
the original
on May 15, 2009
. Retrieved
November 16,
2016
.
- ^
"Sessions Subordinate: I Thought I'd Be Fired If I Objected To Being Called 'Boy'"
,
Talking Points Memo
, May 7, 2009.
- ^
Lamothe, Dan (November 9, 2016).
"Sen. Jeff Sessions is known for fighting immigration. Now he could lead Trump's Pentagon"
.
Washington Post
.
- ^
Williams, Lena (June 6, 1986).
"Senate Panel Hands Reagan First Defeat On Nominee for Judgeship"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
January 2,
2014
.
|
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Supreme Court candidates
and nomination results
| |
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All presidential
judicial appointments
| |
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Appointment controversies
| |
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|