Failed Supreme Court nominations

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 In the Court’s history, 35 judges have withdrawn their nominations or failed to receive approval, with Harriet Miers the most recent back in 2005.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• William Paterson, nominated in 1793: Withdrawn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• John C. Spencer, 1844: Withdrawn

• Reuben H. Walworth, 1844: Tabled by 27 to 20 vote, then withdrawn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• John C. Spencer, 1844: Withdrawn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• Reuben H. Walworth, 1844: Tabled (no record of vote), then withdrawn

• Edward King, 1844: Tabled (no record of vote), then withdrawn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

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