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Current Supreme Court members

Bill Sullivan — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 14:05:43 +0000

Here are the current members of the United States Supreme Court, with date of birth:

John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice: January 27, 1955

Samuel Alito, Associate Justice: April 1, 1950

Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice, August 15, 1938

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice: March 15, 1933

Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice: July 23, 1936

Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice: March 11, 1936

Sonia Sotomayor, Associate Justice: June 25, 1954

John Paul Stevens, Associate Justice: April 20, 1920

Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice: June 23, 1948

Source: The United States Supreme Court
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Longest-serving U.S. Senators

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 17:12:44 +0000

When Senator Edward Kennedy passed away on August 25, one of the longest tenures in the United States Senate came to an end.

Kennedy joined the Senate on Nov. 7, 1962. He remained part of that body for the remainder of his life, 46 years and 293 days.

Here’s a list of the longest-serving Senators in history as of the day of Kennedy’s death:

1. Robert C. Byrd (D-WV): January 3, 1959-present — 50 years, 235 days
2. Strom Thurmond (R-SC): Dec 24, 1954 to Apr 4, 1956 and Nov 7, 1956 to Jan 3, 2003 — 47 years, 159 days
3. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA): Nov 7, 1962 to Aug. 25, 2008 — 46 years, 293 days
4. Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI): Jan 3, 1963 to present — 46 years, 235 days
5. Carl T. Hayden (D-AZ): Mar 4, 1927 to Jan 3, 1969 — 41 years, 305 days
6. John Stennis (D-MS): Nov 5, 1947 to Jan 3, 1989 — 41 years, 59 days
7. Ted Stevens (R-AK): Dec 24, 1968 to Jan 3, 2009 — 40 years, 10 days
8. Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC): Nov 9, 1966 to Jan 3, 2005 — 38 years, 55 days
9. Richard B. Russell (D-GA): Jan 3, 1933 to Jan 21, 1971 — 38 years, 9 days
10. Russell Long (D-LA): Dec 31, 1948 to Jan 3, 1987 — 38 years, 3 days

Source: senate.gov

U.S. Secretaries of State

Bill Sullivan — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:33:24 +0000

In case you missed it, Hillary Clinton — NOT Bill — is the United States Secretary of State. In a much-discussed blowup at a Congolese student, Mrs. Clinton bristled when asked her husband’s opinion on a matter rather than her own. Perhaps the former President’s high-profile role in freeing two journalists jailed in North Korea was a bit more than his wife’s ego could tolerate.

Either way, Hillary is the 67th Secretary of State in U.S. history, beginning with Thoma s Jefferson in 1790.

Here’s the list:

1. Thomas Jefferson (1790-1793)
2. Edmund Jennings Randolph (1794-1795)
3. Timothy Pickering (1795-1800)
4. John Marshall (1800-1801)
5. James Madison (1801-1809)
6. Robert Smith (1809-1811)
7. James Monroe (1811-1817)
8. John Quincy Adams (1817-1825)
9. Henry Clay (1825-1829)
10. Martin Van Buren (1829-1831)
11. Edward Livingston (1831-1833)
12. Louis McLane (1833-1834)
13. John Forsyth (1834-1841)
14. Daniel Webster (1841-1843)
15. Abel Parker Upshur (1843-1844)
16. John Caldwell Calhoun (1844-1845)
17. James Buchanan (1845-1849)
18. John Middleton Clayton (1849-1850)
19. Daniel Webster (1850-1852)
20. Edward Everett (1852-1853)
21. William Learned Marcy (1853-1857)
22. Lewis Cass (1857-1860)
23. Jeremiah Sullivan Black (1860-1861)
24. William Henry Seward (1861-1869)
25. Elihu Benjamin Washburne (1869-1869)
26. Hamilton Fish (1869-1877)
27. William Maxwell Evarts (1877-1881)
28. James Gillespie Blaine (1881-1881)
29. Frederick Theodore Frelinghuysen (1881-1885)
30. Thomas Francis Bayard (1885-1889)
31. James Gillespie Blaine (1889-1892)
32. John Watson Foster (1892-1893)
33. Walter Quintin Gresham (1893-1895)
34. Richard Olney (1895-1897)
35. John Sherman (1897-1898)
36. William Rufus Day (1898-1898)
37. John Milton Hay (1898-1905)
38. Elihu Root (1905-1909)
39. Robert Bacon (1909-1909)
40. Philander Chase Knox (1909-1913)
41. William Jennings Bryan (1913-1915)
42. Robert Lansing (1915-1920)
43. Bainbridge Colby (1920-1921)
44. Charles Evans Hughes (1921-1925)
45. Frank Billings Kellogg (1925-1929)
46. Henry Lewis Stimson (1929-1933)
47. Cordell Hull (1933-1944)
48. Edward Reilly Stettinius (1944-1945)
49. James Francis Byrnes (1945-1947)
50. George Catlett Marshall (1947-1949)
51. Dean Gooderham Acheson (1949-1953)
52. John Foster Dulles (1953-1959)
53. Christian Archibald Herter (1959-1961)
54. David Dean Rusk (1961-1969)
55. William Pierce Rogers (1969-1973)
56. Henry A. (Heinz Alfred) Kissinger (1973-1977)
57. Cyrus Roberts Vance (1977-1980)
58. Edmund Sixtus Muskie (1980-1981)
59. Alexander Meigs Haig (1981-1982)
60. George Pratt Shultz (1982-1989)
61. James Addison Baker (1989-1992)
62. Lawrence Sidney Eagleburger (1992-1993)
63. Warren Minor Christopher (1993-1997)
64. Madeleine Korbel Albright (1997-2001)
65. Colin Luther Powell (2001-2005)
66. Condoleezza Rice (2005-2009)
67. Hillary Rodham Clinton (2009-)

Source: U.S. State Department

Female Supreme Court Justices

Bill Sullivan — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:26:24 +0000

Sonia Sotomayor is the 111th judge to sit on the United States Supreme Court. Of greater significance, perhaps, she is only the third woman.

Here’s the (short) list of women who have served on the nation’s highest court:

Sandra Day O’Connor: 1981-2005
Ruth Bader Ginsberg: 1993-present
Sonia Sotomayor 2009-?

Top political scandals

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:43:54 +0000

Richard Nixon had to insist he was “not a crook.” Bill Clinton told the world he “did not have sex with that woman.”

Politics and scandal go hand-in-hand, and much of the public is beyond being shocked by the misdeeds and poor choices of folks in high places. The past few years, however, have provided a bumper crop of juicy headlines and humiliations.

Here’s a list of some of our favorites:

Rod Blagojevich: Illinois Governor essentially puts a U.S. Senate appointment up for sale, yet seems stunned when he was actually forced from office.

Mark Sanford: South Carolina governor tells aides he is going out to hike the Appalachian Trail. Instead, he flies to Argentina to see his girlfriend. Then he makes an even bigger mess trying to explain the whole thing.

Eliot Spitzer: In a classic “do as I say, not as I do” moment, New York’s crime-fighting governor gets caught in a call-girl scandal.

John Edwards: The former presidential candidate has to fess up to having a close encounter or two with a woman who was not his wife. So much for the good old boy next door image…

Ted Stevens: The Alaska Senator is convicted of accepting home renovations and other illegal gifts just eight days before the November elections. He still only loses by 4,000 votes.

Mark Foley: Six-time Florida Congressman resigns after it comes to light that he had sent sexually-explicit e-mails to underage pages.

Larry Craig: Idaho Senator is arrested after playing footsie with an undercover cop in an airport restroom. He admits guilt, then tries to recant. Who knew a “wide stance” was open to such interpretation?

Kwame Kilpatrick — Detroit mayor who lies about having an affair with an aide eventually cops to two counts of obstruction of justice and agrees to spend four months in jail.

Jim McGreevey: New Jersey Governor resigns from office, admitting he had an affair with a male aide.

Randy “Duke” Cunningham: California Congressman is forced out after pleading guilty to accepting at least $2.4 million in bribes and under-reporting his income for the 2004 tax year.

2012 Republican frontrunners

Bill Sullivan — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:37:07 +0000

Who will rise from the ashes of the Republican Party to carry the flag against Barack Obama in 2012? Candidates already are testing the waters and plotting strategies less than five months into the Obama Administration.

Here’s our take on the early leaders and their chances:

1. Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House: Everything old is new again. After falling out of favor and out of the House, Gingrich has re-emerged, packaging himself as a man of bold ideas and vision. Having already dismissed Obama as a “failure,” Gingrich sounds ready for his own kind of change. Will the Party want to go back to the future? Many apparently do, and Gingrich will be a factor, at least early in the process.

2. Mitt Romney, former Massachusetts Governor: A shrewd businessman who performed a near-miracle in saving the 2002 Salt Lake City, Romney suffers from an image of being stiff and distant. In hindsight, many Republicans wish he had won the nomination over John McCain in 2008, and he has appeal as a compromise choice. Whether he can energize enough of the Party to get over the hump remains to be seen.

3. Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska and 2008 Vice-Presidential nominee: Stays in the discussion because (1) she was popular with a large segment of the Party, and (2) the Party has yet to identify a clear front-runner. Didn’t fare well under scrutiny of her experience and general knowledge of world politics and events, but the Party has been known to ignore such shortcomings in the past.

4. Jeb Bush, former Governor of Florida: Could the Republicans actually nominate another Southern governor named Bush? Given George W.’s standing both in and outside the Party by the time he left Washington, it’s hard to believe they would go to that well again. Without the baggage, he’d be a much stronger contender.

5. Haley Barbour, governor of Mississippi: The former Party chairman scheduled appearances in Iowa and New Hampshire for June. He’s going ostensibly to help raise money for Republicans, but testing the waters for himself may be on the agenda as well.

Failed Supreme Court nominations

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:40:59 +0000

With President Barack Obama’s nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court drawing plenty of scrutiny in Washington, she is hardly the first to feel the heat of the spotlight.

Supreme Court nominations often are contentious. In the Court’s history, 35 judges have withdrawn their nominations or failed to receive approval, with Harriet Miers the most recent back in 2005.

Here, by president, is a list of judges who were nominated for the nation’s highest court, only to be rejected or forced to withdraw:

Washington:

• William Paterson, nominated in 1793: Withdrawn

• John Rutledge (for Chief Justice), 1795: Rejected by 10 to 14 vote

Madison:

• Alexander Wolcott, 1811: Rejected by 9 to 24 vote

John Quincy Adams:

• John J. Crittenden, 1828: Postponed by 23 to 17 vote

Jackson:

• Roger B. Taney, 1835: Postponed indefinitely by 24 to 21 vote

Tyler:

• John C. Spencer, 1844: Withdrawn

• Reuben H. Walworth, 1844: Tabled by 27 to 20 vote, then withdrawn

• Edward King, 1844: Tabled by 29 to 18 vote

• John C. Spencer, 1844: Withdrawn

• Reuben H. Walworth, 1844: Motion to consider nomination was objected to, no further action

• Reuben H. Walworth, 1844: Tabled (no record of vote), then withdrawn

• Edward King, 1844: Tabled (no record of vote), then withdrawn

• John M. Read, 1845: Motion to consider nomination failed, no further action

Athletes who became politicians

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 06 May 2009 19:48:48 +0000

When former NBA great Dave Bing was elected Mayor of Detroit, he wasn’t exactly blazing trails when it came to making the leap from athlete to politician. The move has become common over the years, and many a retired jock has gone on to considerable success in the political arena.

Here’s a list of athletes who have become politicians. If there’s someone we’ve forgotten, use the Comments section to let us know!

Bill Bradley: College and NBA basketball player/U.S. Senator

Jim Bunning: MLB pitcher/U.S. House of Representatives/U.S. Senate

Ben Nighthorse Campbell: Olympic Judo/U.S. House of Representatives/U.S. Senate

Kevin Johnson: NBA/Mayor of Sacramento

Jack Kemp: Pro football quarterback/U.S. House of Representatives

Steve Largent: NFL wide receiver/U.S. House of Representatives

Bob Mathias: Olympic decathlon/U.S. House of Representatives

Tom McMillan: NBA/U.S. House of Representatives

Ralph Metcalfe: Olympic track/U.S. House of Representatives

Jim Ryun: Olympic track/U.S. House of Representatives

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Body builder/California governor

Heath Shuler: College and NFL quarterback/U.S. House of Representatives

Jesse Ventura: Pro wrestler/Minnesota governor

J.C. Watts: College quarterback/U.S. House of Representatives

Top political defections

Bill Sullivan — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:57:11 +0000

When Pennsylvania senator Arlen Specter announced that he would switch from the Republican to the Democratic Party, it send shock waves through Congress.

It probably shouldn’t have.

Specter was growing increasingly at odds with the Republican power structure and stood a good chance of failing in his bid for re-election. Moving across the aisle may have reflected a closer alliance with current Democratic ideology, but it was also a matter of political survival.

In honor of the event, Time looked back on some of the top defections in U.S. political history. Here’s what they came up with:

Arlen Specter, 2009: Republican to Democrat

Theodore Roosevelt, 1912: Republican to Bull Moose

Wendell Willkie, 1939: Democrat to Republican

Hillary Clinton, 1960s: Republican to Democrat

Ronald Reagan, 1962: Democrat to Republican

Strom Thurmond, 1964: Democrat to Republican

Condoleezza Rice, 1982: Democrat to Republican

Richard Shelby, 1994: Democrat to Republican

Michael Bloomberg, 2001: Democrat to Republican

Jim Jeffords, 2001: Republican to Independent

To read more about the reasoning behind these decisions, visit Time.

Two-term U.S. presidents

Bill Sullivan — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:08:37 +0000

Of the 43 men elected President of the United States, only 14 were subsequently re-elected and served two full terms. (One, Franklin D. Roosevelt, actually was elected four times but died shortly into his final term; Grover Cleveland served two non-consecutive terms.)

Who managed to keep the country on his side well enough to earn eight (or more) years in the Oval Office?

Here’s the list:

1. George Washington: 1789-1797

2. Thomas Jefferson: 1801-1809

3. James Madison: 1809-1817

4. James Monroe: 1817-1825

5. Andrew Jackson: 1829-37

6. Ulysses S. Grant: 1869-1877

7. Grover Cleveland: 1885-1889, 1893-1897

8. Theodore Roosevelt: 1901-1909

9. Woodrow Wilson: 1913-1921

10. Franklin D. Roosevelt: 1933-1945

11. Dwight D. Eisenhower: 1953-1961

12. Ronald Reagan: 1981-89

13. William J. Clinton: 1993-2001

14. George W. Bush: 2001-2009

Source: whitehouse.gov