Kinda late but since Kentaji Brown Jackson is soon to be confirmed to the supreme I decided to make a comprehensive rundown thread of all the votes on supreme court nominees in 21st century! #ElectionTwitter #SCOTUS #SupremeCourt #KetanjiBrownJackson
Under Bush, four different supreme court nominations occurred. Although he withdrew two. The first was John Roberts was originally nominated to replace Sandra Day O’Connor but withdrew him when the chief justice, William Rehnquist died and instead nominated him for chief justice.
Nominated again on Sep. 6, 2005, he was a former member of Reagan’s Attorney General’s office and DC circuit judge, Roberts managed to garner broad, bipartisan support and was the last nominee to receive majority support from the party whose president didn’t nominate them.
Soon after, WH counsel Harriet Miers was nominated to replace O’Connor but she was criticized for a sore lack of legal experience and knowledge and her close personal ties to Bush. She had extremely broad skepticism among senators and asked Bush to withdraw her nomination.
Instead of Miers, Bush nominated soon nominated the first Italian American justice, the experienced former NJ DA and 3rd Circuit Judge Samuel Alito. Most Ds voted nay but he was confirmed despite a failed filibuster attempt. Notably, R Sen. Lincoln Chafee voted nay yet 4 Ds yea.
In 2009, Obama replaced David Souter with Sonia Sotomayor, a former NY district & 2nd circuit judge & the first hispanic/latino person & first women of color nominated to the court. Despite some controversy over past comments, she was also the last nominee to garner 2/3 support.
In 2010, Obama replaced John Paul Stevens with former Clinton WH member, Harvard Dean and solicitor general Elena Hagan. She was the last nominee to have both bipartisan support and opposition with Nebraska D Sen. Ben Nelson opposing her nomination and the last to get 3/5 support
After Justice Antonin Scalia, Maj. Leader Mitch McConnell infamously made the unprecedented move to deny a replacement consideration by the senate because it was an election year and he said the winner should nominate a replacement.
Nevertheless, Obama nominated Chief Judge of the DC Circuit Merrick Garland to the supreme court. However, he was denied any legislative action by Rs. In total, his nomination period lasted for the longest ever, 293 days until it finally expired when the 114th congress ended.
About two weeks after he was inaugurated, Trump nominated Tenth Circuit Appeals Judge Neil Gorsuch to replace Scalia. He was the last nominee to garner support from >1 opposite party to president senator, as he got the support of 3 democrats, all in Trump landslide states.
In 2018, Trump nominated former Bush Staff Sec. & DC circuit judge Brett Kavanaugh but after he was accused of sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford, it soon became the one of the most controversial SCOTUS nominations ever with Manchin being the only crossover vote.
The hearings had an effect on the 2018 midterms, with the controversy making things harder for red state dems. Note: Murkowski voted Present because Steve Daines was absent and she wanted to avoid the tie that would occur if she had voted nay the nomination since he was absent.
In 2020, Trump’s final nominee, to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 7th circuit judge Amy Coney Barrett became almost as controversial as Kavanaugh, due to the proximity to the election (35 days) & Republican’s past opposition to Garland due to a much less close proximity to 2016.
Ultimately though, and against RBG’s wishes, the Republican senate majority confirmed Barrett to SCOTUS just a week before the 2020 elections, with only Susan Collins splitting her ticket against, though with Murkowski opposing holding a vote on her nomination.
Finally, about a month ago, Biden nominated former vice chair of the sentencing commission, former DC district and DC circuit judge Kentaji Brown Jackson to the supreme court. Although, she is still pending, it is safe to expect her to be confirmed soon due to senate D control &
she has support from moderate R Susan Collins. Last year she was confirmed to the circuit court with Collins, Murkowski and Graham supporting:
Tbh my prediction is that it will be 51-49 or 52-48 with Murkowski tossup.
Okay that’s all, thanks for reading!
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*2nd Italian American after Scalia
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