List of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States

To become a Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, an individual must be nominated by the President of the United States and approved by the United States Senate, with at least half of that body approving in the affirmative. Generally, a justice's qualifications are judged by the President and, most visibly, by a Senate hearing. There is no definitive qualification of age or experience that is a standard to be met; instead, there is a much more subjective process taken by the Senate, occasionally resulting in a sometimes controversial defeat of judicial nominees.

The following table lists the nominations that were sent by the President to the Senate for the constitutionally required “advice and consent”. They are placed in chronological order by their date of nomination.

• Only nominations which have been formally sent to the Senate are listed here. For example, the nomination of Douglas H. Ginsburg was withdrawn before the official notification had been sent to the Senate, so it is not listed in the table below.
• The "Seat Rank" is either "CJ" for Chief Justice of the United States or "AJ" for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
• When a President nominates an individual to the Supreme Court, he informs the Senate of the nomination via a letter. The “Date of Submission to Senate” is the date of that letter (except for Hugo Black, whose letter was undated).
• The "Result" can be one of six possibilities:
  • "no action"—if the Senate session ended without the nomination being brought to the floor for consideration
    • In this case, "Vote" and “Date of Result” should be blank.
  • "postponed"—if the nomination was brought to the floor and a vote was taken to defer consideration, but no confirmation vote took place
    • In this case, "Vote" is the result of the vote to postpone and "Date of Result" is the date of that vote.
  • "rejected"—if the nominee failed a confirmation vote
    • In this case, "Vote" is the result of the confirmation vote and "Date of Result" is the date of the confirmation vote.
  • "confirmed"—if the nominee was confirmed and accepted the confirmation
    • In this case, "Vote" is the result of the confirmation vote and "Date of Result" is the date of the confirmation vote.
  • "declined"—if the nominee declined his or her nomination when informed of the nomination
    • If the Senate was informed that the nominee had declined their nomination prior to a confirmation vote, "Vote" is blank and "Date of Result" is the date of that decline. If the Senate held a confirmation vote prior to being informed that the nominee had declined their nomination, "Vote" is the result of the confirmation vote and "Date of Result" is the date of the confirmation vote.
  • "withdrawn"—if the nominee accepted their nomination and then the nomination was withdrawn prior to a confirmation vote
    • In this case, "Vote" should be blank and "Date of Result" is the date that the nomination was withdrawn.
• The "Vote" is either a voice vote (if a count of the yeas and nays was not requested and therefore not recorded) or the tally of the vote.

Nominee	Replacing	Seat Rank	Date of Submission to Senate	Result	Vote	Date of Result	President
John Jay	Inaugural	CJ	September 24, 1789	confirmed	voice vote	September 26, 1789	Washington
John Rutledge	Inaugural	AJ	September 24, 1789	confirmed	voice vote	September 26, 1789	Washington
William Cushing	Inaugural	AJ	September 24, 1789	confirmed	voice vote	September 26, 1789	Washington
Robert H. Harrison	Inaugural	AJ	September 24, 1789	declined		September 26, 1789	Washington
James Wilson	Inaugural	AJ	September 24, 1789	confirmed	voice vote	September 26, 1789	Washington
John Blair, Jr.	Inaugural	AJ	September 24, 1789	confirmed	voice vote	September 26, 1789	Washington
James Iredell	Harrison	AJ	February 8, 1790	confirmed	voice vote	February 10, 1790	Washington
Thomas Johnson	Rutledge	AJ	November 1, 1791	confirmed	voice vote	November 7, 1791	Washington
William Paterson	Johnson	AJ	February 27, 1793	withdrawn		February 28, 1793	Washington
William Paterson	Johnson	AJ	March 4, 1793	confirmed	voice vote	March 4, 1793	Washington
John Rutledge	Jay	CJ	December 10, 1795	rejected	10–14	December 15, 1795	Washington
William Cushing	Rutledge	CJ	January 26, 1796	declined		January 27, 1796	Washington
Samuel Chase	Blair	AJ	January 26, 1796	confirmed	voice vote	January 27, 1796	Washington
Oliver Ellsworth	Rutledge	CJ	March 3, 1796	confirmed	21–1	March 4, 1796	Washington
Bushrod Washington	Wilson	AJ	December 19, 1798	confirmed	voice vote	December 20, 1798	J. Adams
Alfred Moore	Iredell	AJ	December 4, 1799	confirmed	voice vote	December 10, 1799	J. Adams
John Jay	Ellsworth	CJ	December 18, 1800	declined		December 19, 1800	J. Adams
John Marshall	Ellsworth	CJ	January 20, 1801	confirmed	voice vote	January 27, 1801	J. Adams
William Johnson	Moore	AJ	March 22, 1804	confirmed	voice vote	March 24, 1804	Jefferson
Henry Brockholst Livingston	Paterson	AJ	December 13, 1806	confirmed	voice vote	December 17, 1806	Jefferson
Thomas Todd	Inaugural	AJ	February 28, 1807	confirmed	voice vote	March 2, 1807	Jefferson
Levi Lincoln, Sr.	Cushing	AJ	January 2, 1811	declined		January 3, 1811	Madison
Alexander Wolcott	Cushing	AJ	February 4, 1811	rejected	9–24	February 13, 1811	Madison
John Quincy Adams	Cushing	AJ	February 21, 1811	declined		February 22, 1811	Madison
Joseph Story	Cushing	AJ	November 15, 1811	confirmed	voice vote	November 18, 1811	Madison
Gabriel Duvall	Chase	AJ	November 15, 1811	confirmed	voice vote	November 18, 1811	Madison
Smith Thompson	Livingston	AJ	December 5, 1823	confirmed	voice vote	December 9, 1823	Monroe
Robert Trimble	Todd	AJ	April 11, 1826	confirmed	27–5	May 9, 1826	J. Q. Adams
John J. Crittenden	Trimble	AJ	December 17, 1828	postponed	23–17	February 12, 1829	J. Q. Adams
John McLean	Trimble	AJ	March 6, 1829	confirmed	voice vote	March 7, 1829	Jackson
Henry Baldwin	Washington	AJ	January 4, 1830	confirmed	41–2	January 6, 1830	Jackson
James Moore Wayne	Johnson	AJ	January 6, 1835	confirmed	voice vote	January 9, 1835	Jackson
Roger B. Taney	Duvall	AJ	January 15, 1835	postponed	24–21	March 3, 1835	Jackson
Roger B. Taney	Marshall	CJ	December 28, 1835	confirmed	29–15	March 15, 1836	Jackson
Philip Pendleton Barbour	Duvall	AJ	December 28, 1835	confirmed	30–11	March 15, 1836	Jackson
William Smith	Inaugural	AJ	March 3, 1837	declined	23–18	March 8, 1837	Jackson
John Catron	Inaugural	AJ	March 3, 1837	confirmed	28–15	March 8, 1837	Jackson
John McKinley	Inaugural	AJ	September 18, 1837	confirmed	voice vote	September 25, 1837	Van Buren
Peter Vivian Daniel	Barbour	AJ	February 26, 1841	confirmed	25–5	March 2, 1841	Van Buren
John Canfield Spencer	Thompson	AJ	January 9, 1844	rejected	21–26	January 31, 1844	Tyler
Reuben Walworth	Thompson	AJ	March 13, 1844	withdrawn	27–20	June 17, 1844	Tyler
Edward King	Baldwin	AJ	June 5, 1844	postponed	29–18	June 15, 1844	Tyler
John Canfield Spencer	Thompson	AJ	June 17, 1844	withdrawn		June 17, 1844	Tyler
Reuben Walworth	Thompson	AJ	June 17, 1844	no action		June 17, 1844	Tyler
Edward King	Baldwin	AJ	December 4, 1844	withdrawn		February 7, 1845	Tyler
Reuben Walworth	Thompson	AJ	December 4, 1844	withdrawn		February 4, 1845	Tyler
Samuel Nelson	Thompson	AJ	February 4, 1845	confirmed	voice vote	February 14, 1845	Tyler
John M. Read	Baldwin	AJ	February 7, 1845	no action			Tyler
George Woodward	Baldwin	AJ	December 23, 1845	rejected	20–29	January 22, 1846	Polk
Levi Woodbury	Story	AJ	December 23, 1845	confirmed	voice vote	January 31, 1846	Polk
Robert Cooper Grier	Baldwin	AJ	August 3, 1846	confirmed	voice vote	August 4, 1846	Polk
Benjamin Robbins Curtis	Woodbury	AJ	December 11, 1851	confirmed	voice vote	December 20, 1851	Fillmore
Edward A. Bradford	McKinley	AJ	August 16, 1852	no action			Fillmore
George Edmund Badger	McKinley	AJ	January 3, 1853	withdrawn		February 14, 1853	Fillmore
William Micou	McKinley	AJ	February 14, 1853	no action			Fillmore
John Archibald Campbell	McKinley	AJ	March 21, 1853	confirmed	voice vote	March 22, 1853	Pierce
Nathan Clifford	Curtis	AJ	December 9, 1857	confirmed	26–23	January 12, 1858	Buchanan
Jeremiah S. Black	Daniel	AJ	February 5, 1861	no action	25–26	February 21, 1861	Buchanan
Noah Haynes Swayne	McLean	AJ	January 21, 1862	confirmed	38–1	January 24, 1862	Lincoln
Samuel Freeman Miller	Daniel	AJ	July 16, 1862	confirmed	voice vote	July 16, 1862	Lincoln
David Davis	Campbell	AJ	December 1, 1862	confirmed	voice vote	December 8, 1862	Lincoln
Stephen Johnson Field	Inaugural	AJ	March 6, 1863	confirmed	voice vote	March 10, 1863	Lincoln
Salmon P. Chase	Taney	CJ	December 6, 1864	confirmed	voice vote	December 6, 1864	Lincoln
Henry Stanbery	Catron	AJ	April 16, 1866	no action			A. Johnson
Ebenezer R. Hoar	Inaugural	AJ	December 14, 1869	rejected	24–33	February 3, 1870	Grant
Edwin M. Stanton	Grier	AJ	December 20, 1869	confirmed	46–11	December 20, 1869	Grant
William Strong	Grier	AJ	February 7, 1870	confirmed		February 18, 1870	Grant
Joseph P. Bradley	Inaugural	AJ	February 7, 1870	confirmed	46–9	March 21, 1870	Grant
Ward Hunt	Nelson	AJ	December 3, 1872	confirmed	voice vote	December 11, 1872	Grant
George Henry Williams	Chase	CJ	December 1, 1873	withdrawn		January 8, 1874	Grant
Caleb Cushing	Chase	CJ	January 9, 1874	withdrawn		January 13, 1874	Grant
Morrison Waite	Chase	CJ	January 19, 1874	confirmed	63–0	January 21, 1874	Grant
John Marshall Harlan	Davis	AJ	October 16, 1877	confirmed	voice vote	November 29, 1877	Hayes
William Burnham Woods	Strong	AJ	December 15, 1880	confirmed	39–8	December 21, 1880	Hayes
Stanley Matthews	Swayne	AJ	January 26, 1881	no action			Hayes
Stanley Matthews	Swayne	AJ	March 14, 1881	confirmed	24–23	May 12, 1881	Garfield
Horace Gray	Clifford	AJ	December 19, 1881	confirmed	51–5	December 20, 1881	Arthur
Roscoe Conkling	Hunt	AJ	February 24, 1882	declined	39–12	March 2, 1882	Arthur
Samuel Blatchford	Hunt	AJ	March 13, 1882	confirmed	voice vote	March 22, 1882	Arthur
Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar	Woods	AJ	December 6, 1887	confirmed	32–28	January 16, 1888	Cleveland
Melville Fuller	Waite	CJ	April 30, 1888	confirmed	41–20	July 20, 1888	Cleveland
David Josiah Brewer	Matthews	AJ	December 4, 1889	confirmed	53–11	December 18, 1889	B. Harrison
Henry Billings Brown	Miller	AJ	December 23, 1890	confirmed	voice vote	December 29, 1890	B. Harrison
George Shiras, Jr.	Bradley	AJ	July 19, 1892	confirmed	voice vote	July 26, 1892	B. Harrison
Howell Edmunds Jackson	Lamar	AJ	February 2, 1893	confirmed	voice vote	February 18, 1893	B. Harrison
William Hornblower	Blatchford	AJ	September 19, 1893	no action			Cleveland
William Hornblower	Blatchford	AJ	December 5, 1893	rejected	24–30	January 15, 1894	Cleveland
Wheeler Hazard Peckham	Blatchford	AJ	January 22, 1894	rejected	32–41	February 16, 1894	Cleveland
Edward Douglass White	Blatchford	AJ	February 19, 1894	confirmed	voice vote	February 19, 1894	Cleveland
Rufus Wheeler Peckham	Jackson	AJ	December 3, 1895	confirmed	voice vote	December 9, 1895	Cleveland
Joseph McKenna	Field	AJ	December 16, 1897	confirmed	voice vote	January 21, 1898	McKinley
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.	Gray	AJ	December 2, 1902	confirmed	voice vote	December 4, 1902	T. Roosevelt
William R. Day	Shiras	AJ	February 19, 1903	confirmed	voice vote	February 23, 1903	T. Roosevelt
William Henry Moody	Brown	AJ	December 3, 1906	confirmed	voice vote	December 12, 1906	T. Roosevelt
Horace Harmon Lurton	Peckham	AJ	December 13, 1909	confirmed	voice vote	December 20, 1909	Taft
Charles Evans Hughes	Brewer	AJ	April 25, 1910	confirmed	voice vote	May 2, 1910	Taft
Edward Douglass White	Fuller	CJ	December 12, 1910	confirmed	voice vote	December 12, 1910	Taft
Willis Van Devanter	White	AJ	December 12, 1910	confirmed	voice vote	December 15, 1910	Taft
Joseph Rucker Lamar	Moody	AJ	December 12, 1910	confirmed	voice vote	December 15, 1910	Taft
Mahlon Pitney	Harlan	AJ	February 19, 1912	confirmed	50–26	March 13, 1912	Taft
James Clark McReynolds	Lurton	AJ	August 19, 1914	confirmed	44–6	August 29, 1914	Wilson
Louis Brandeis	Lamar	AJ	January 28, 1916	confirmed	47–22	June 1, 1916	Wilson
John Hessin Clarke	Hughes	AJ	July 14, 1916	confirmed	voice vote	July 24, 1916	Wilson
William Howard Taft	White	CJ	June 30, 1921	confirmed	voice vote	June 30, 1921	Harding
George Sutherland	Clarke	AJ	September 5, 1922	confirmed	voice vote	September 5, 1922	Harding
Pierce Butler	Day	AJ	November 21, 1922	no action			Harding
Pierce Butler	Day	AJ	December 5, 1922	confirmed	61–8	December 21, 1922	Harding
Edward Terry Sanford	Pitney	AJ	January 24, 1923	confirmed	voice vote	January 29, 1923	Harding
Harlan F. Stone	McKenna	AJ	January 5, 1925	confirmed	71–6	February 5, 1925	Coolidge
Charles Evans Hughes	Taft	CJ	February 3, 1930	confirmed	52–26	February 13, 1930	Hoover
John J. Parker	Sanford	AJ	March 21, 1930	rejected	39–41	May 7, 1930	Hoover
Owen Roberts	Sanford	AJ	May 9, 1930	confirmed	voice vote	May 20, 1930	Hoover
Benjamin N. Cardozo	Holmes	AJ	February 15, 1932	confirmed	voice vote	February 24, 1932	Hoover
Hugo Black	Van Devanter	AJ	August 12, 1937	confirmed	63–16	August 17, 1937	F. Roosevelt
Stanley Forman Reed	Sutherland	AJ	January 15, 1938	confirmed	voice vote	January 25, 1938	F. Roosevelt
Felix Frankfurter	Cardozo	AJ	January 5, 1939	confirmed	voice vote	January 17, 1939	F. Roosevelt
William O. Douglas	Brandeis	AJ	March 20, 1939	confirmed	62–4	April 4, 1939	F. Roosevelt
Frank Murphy	Butler	AJ	January 4, 1940	confirmed	voice vote	January 16, 1940	F. Roosevelt
Harlan F. Stone	Hughes	CJ	June 12, 1941	confirmed	voice vote	June 27, 1941	F. Roosevelt
James F. Byrnes	McReynolds	AJ	June 12, 1941	confirmed	voice vote	June 12, 1941	F. Roosevelt
Robert H. Jackson	Stone	AJ	June 12, 1941	confirmed	voice vote	July 7, 1941	F. Roosevelt
Wiley Blount Rutledge	Byrnes	AJ	January 11, 1943	confirmed	voice vote	February 8, 1943	F. Roosevelt
Harold Hitz Burton	Roberts	AJ	September 19, 1945	confirmed	voice vote	September 19, 1945	Truman
Fred M. Vinson	Stone	CJ	June 6, 1946	confirmed	voice vote	June 20, 1946	Truman
Tom C. Clark	Murphy	AJ	August 2, 1949	confirmed	73–8	August 18, 1949	Truman
Sherman Minton	Rutledge	AJ	September 15, 1949	confirmed	48–16	October 4, 1949	Truman
Earl Warren	Vinson	CJ	January 11, 1954	confirmed	voice vote	March 1, 1954	Eisenhower
John Marshall Harlan II	Jackson	AJ	November 9, 1954	no action			Eisenhower
John Marshall Harlan II	Jackson	AJ	January 10, 1955	confirmed	71–11	March 16, 1955	Eisenhower
William J. Brennan, Jr.	Minton	AJ	January 14, 1957	confirmed	voice vote	March 19, 1957	Eisenhower
Charles Evans Whittaker	Reed	AJ	March 2, 1957	confirmed	voice vote	March 19, 1957	Eisenhower
Potter Stewart	Burton	AJ	January 17, 1959	confirmed	70–17	May 5, 1959	Eisenhower
Byron White	Whittaker	AJ	April 3, 1962	confirmed	voice vote	April 11, 1962	Kennedy
Arthur Goldberg	Frankfurter	AJ	August 31, 1962	confirmed	voice vote	September 25, 1962	Kennedy
Abe Fortas	Goldberg	AJ	July 28, 1965	confirmed	voice vote	August 11, 1965	L. Johnson
Thurgood Marshall	Clark	AJ	June 13, 1967	confirmed	69–11	August 30, 1967	L. Johnson
Abe Fortas	Warren	CJ	June 26, 1968	withdrawn		October 4, 1968	L. Johnson
Homer Thornberry	Fortas	AJ	June 26, 1968	no action			L. Johnson
Warren E. Burger	Warren	CJ	May 23, 1969	confirmed	74–3	June 9, 1969	Nixon
Clement Haynsworth	Fortas	AJ	August 21, 1969	rejected	45–55	November 21, 1969	Nixon
Harold Carswell	Fortas	AJ	January 19, 1970	rejected	45–51	April 8, 1970	Nixon
Harry Blackmun	Fortas	AJ	April 15, 1970	confirmed	94–0	May 12, 1970	Nixon
Lewis F. Powell, Jr.	Black	AJ	October 22, 1971	confirmed	89–1	December 6, 1971	Nixon
William Rehnquist	Harlan	AJ	October 22, 1971	confirmed	68–26	December 10, 1971	Nixon
John Paul Stevens	Douglas	AJ	November 28, 1975	confirmed	98–0	December 17, 1975	Ford
Sandra Day O'Connor	Stewart	AJ	August 19, 1981	confirmed	99–0	September 21, 1981	Reagan
William Rehnquist	Burger	CJ	June 20, 1986	confirmed	65–33	September 17, 1986	Reagan
Antonin Scalia	Rehnquist	AJ	June 24, 1986	confirmed	98–0	September 17, 1986	Reagan
Robert Bork	Powell	AJ	July 1, 1987	rejected	42–58	October 23, 1987	Reagan
Anthony Kennedy	Powell	AJ	November 30, 1987	confirmed	97–0	February 3, 1988	Reagan
David Souter	Brennan	AJ	July 25, 1990	confirmed	90–9	October 2, 1990	G. H. W. Bush
Clarence Thomas	Marshall	AJ	July 8, 1991	confirmed	52–48	October 15, 1991	G. H. W. Bush
Ruth Bader Ginsburg	White	AJ	June 14, 1993	confirmed	96–3	August 3, 1993	Clinton
Stephen Breyer	Blackmun	AJ	May 17, 1994	confirmed	87–9	July 29, 1994	Clinton
John Roberts	O'Connor	AJ	July 29, 2005	withdrawn		September 6, 2005	G. W. Bush
John Roberts	Rehnquist	CJ	September 6, 2005	confirmed	78–22	September 29, 2005	G. W. Bush
Harriet Miers	O'Connor	AJ	October 7, 2005	withdrawn		October 28, 2005	G. W. Bush
Samuel Alito	O'Connor	AJ	November 10, 2005	confirmed	58–42	January 31, 2006	G. W. Bush
Sonia Sotomayor	Souter	AJ	June 1, 2009	confirmed	68–31	August 6, 2009	Obama
Elena Kagan	Stevens	AJ	May 10, 2010	confirmed	63 –37	August 5, 2010	Obama

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Nominee was serving on the Court under a recess appointment when the nomination was made.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Nominee was a sitting associate justice who was nominated to the Chief Justiceship.
3. ^ On June 15, 1844, a move was made to table the nomination. The tally of 27–20 is the result of that motion. The nomination was subsequently withdrawn on June 17.
4. ^ On this date a motion was made to consider the nomination, but the motion died without a vote when an objection was made.
5. ^ The Senate never considered his nomination. A motion to consider it was rejected by the listed 25-26 vote.
6. ^ Stanton was confirmed, but died before he could take office.