What historic US Supreme Court appointment did President Reagan make?

Answer 1

Nixon nominated six Supreme Court justices, but only four were approved by the Senate. Harry Blackmun was the third person Nixon nominated to fill the vacancy created when Abe Fortas resigned.

Successful Appointments

1. Chief Justice Warren Burger
2. Justice Harry A. Blackmun
3. Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr.
4. Justice William H. Rehnquist (elevated to Chief Justice by Reagan)

Rejected Nominees

1. Clement Haynesworth
2. G. Harrold Carswell

Both Haynesworth and Carswell were Southern conservatives. Carswell had a record of supporting segregation and opposing women's rights, making him the target of vigorous opposition from special interest groups.

Answer 2

President Reagan appointed the first female US Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, to the bench in 1981. O'Connor retired in 2006 and was succeeded by sitting Justice Samuel Alito.

Answer 3

President Richard M. Nixon appointed four US Supreme Court justices during his time in office. President Reagan later elevated Justice William H. Rehnquist to Chief Justice

Warren E. Burger...........1969 - 1986 (Chief Justice)

Harry Blackmun............1970 - 1994

Lewis F. Powell, Jr..........1972 - 1987

William H. Rehnquist......1972 - 2005 (Reagan elevated Rehnquist to Chief Justice in 1986)

Answer 4

Three.

President Reagan nominated the first woman on the Supreme Court, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, in 1981; he nominated Justice Antonin Scalia in 1986; and nominated Justice Anthony Kennedy in 1988.

Justice Scalia died of "natural causes" (without autopsy) in 2016.

Justice O'Connor retired in 2006; Justice Kennedy is still serving on the Court.

Answer 5

President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated eight justices to the US Supreme Court, which is the second highest number of appointments after President Washington, who nominated ten justices.

1. Hugo Black........................................1937-1971
2. Stanley Foreman Reed........................1938-1957
3. Felix Frankfurter.................................1939-1962
4. William O. Douglas.............................1939-1975
5. Frank Murphy.....................................1940-1949
6. James Francis Byrnes..........................1941-1942
7. Robert Houghtwood Jackson................1941-1954
8. Wiley Rutledge...................................1943-1949

For more information, see Related Questions, below.

Note:

If President Franklin Roosevelt had succeeded in getting Congress to pass the Judicial Reorganization Bill in 1937, there would have been fifteen justices on the Court for a short period of time, but Roosevelt would only have added six new justices to the ones already seated. Since the six would have supplemented older justices who ultimately retired during the President's terms of office, he still would only have named eight justices to the Supreme Court.

Answer 6

President Reagan appointed three US Supreme Court justices during his two terms of office. Sandra Day O'Connor, who was appointed in 1981 and retired in 2006, was the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court. He also appointed sitting justices Antonin Scalia in 1986 and Anthony Kennedy in 1988.

Although President Nixon appointed William H. Rehnquistto the Court in 1972, Reagan elevated him to Chief Justice when Warren E. Burger retired in 1986. Chief Justice Rehnquist died in 2005.

Answer 7

President Ronald Reagan appointed the first woman, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, to the US Supreme Court in 1981. She retired in 2006.

Answer 8

six