Why Did Carter Get No SCOTUS Appointments?

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Basically the Dems really screwed themselves with their appointments in the 60s and then there were basically 24 years of GOP picks (since Carter didn’t get any, as stated). One of Clinton’s picks (RBG) of course just died and then Breyer is still on the court at like 85 or whatever.

Kennedy:
Byron White: 31 years, retired and replaced by RBG under Clinton.
Arthur Goldberg: 3 years, retired and replaced by Abe Fortas under LBJ

LBJ
Abe Fortas: 3 years, retired and replaced by Harry Blackmun under Nixon
Thurgood Marshall: 24 years, retired and replaced by Clarence Thomas under GHWB

The combo of Goldberg followed by Fortas was just awful. From what I can tell, LBJ wanted to replace Goldberg with his friend Abe Fortas and succeeded in doing so. Fortas was basically an ethics bomb, but LBJ in probably the worst domestic policy move he made (Vietnam obviously being the worst overall) decided to try to elevate Fortas to Chief Justice after Earl Warren retired. That failed and Fortas resigned a few months later, in the Nixon administration following yet another scandal.

As to Marshall, it’s hard to say if he would have lasted into the Clinton administration (he died 4 days after the inauguration) and I wouldn’t blame him for being mad if Carter wanted to replace him given that he served 10-11 years past the end of the Carter admin. That’s just kind of one of those unfortunate things.

As to Trump getting three picks, the way that I see it, either Gorsuch or Barrett is essentially a stolen seat. I can see the argument for one, but not the other. I don’t care which one you pick, but one was essentially stolen by the GOP. Sadly, Gorsuch is my favorite of Trump’s picks. Kavanaugh for all of his issues was legitimate, but he really shouldn’t be on the court with all of his issues. Count me as being suspicious regarding Kennedy’s resignation. Gorsuch has been a good replacement for Scalia. Scalia always had a few positions that I liked regarding civil liberties and Gorsuch seems to be in the same mold. His support of Native American rights is refreshing.

/rant

[Pouring Rain and Blairing Music]

Basically the Dems really screwed themselves with their appointments in the 60s and then there were basically 24 years of GOP picks (since Carter didn’t get any, as stated). One of Clinton’s picks (RBG) of course just died and then Breyer is still on the court at like 85 or whatever.

Kennedy:
Byron White: 31 years, retired and replaced by RBG under Clinton.
Arthur Goldberg: 3 years, retired and replaced by Abe Fortas under LBJ

LBJ
Abe Fortas: 3 years, retired and replaced by Harry Blackmun under Nixon
Thurgood Marshall: 24 years, retired and replaced by Clarence Thomas under GHWB

The combo of Goldberg followed by Fortas was just awful. From what I can tell, LBJ wanted to replace Goldberg with his friend Abe Fortas and succeeded in doing so. Fortas was basically an ethics bomb, but LBJ in probably the worst domestic policy move he made (Vietnam obviously being the worst overall) decided to try to elevate Fortas to Chief Justice after Earl Warren retired. That failed and Fortas resigned a few months later, in the Nixon administration following yet another scandal.

As to Marshall, it’s hard to say if he would have lasted into the Clinton administration (he died 4 days after the inauguration) and I wouldn’t blame him for being mad if Carter wanted to replace him given that he served 10-11 years past the end of the Carter admin. That’s just kind of one of those unfortunate things.

As to Trump getting three picks, the way that I see it, either Gorsuch or Barrett is essentially a stolen seat. I can see the argument for one, but not the other. I don’t care which one you pick, but one was essentially stolen by the GOP. Sadly, Gorsuch is my favorite of Trump’s picks. Kavanaugh for all of his issues was legitimate, but he really shouldn’t be on the court with all of his issues. Count me as being suspicious regarding Kennedy’s resignation. Gorsuch has been a good replacement for Scalia. Scalia always had a few positions that I liked regarding civil liberties and Gorsuch seems to be in the same mold. His support of Native American rights is refreshing.

/rant

White had an interesting socon side that made him something of a reverse Kennedy (but not quite a reverse Souter).  Goldberg passed away in 1990, so he would have needed to retire under Carter to keep the seat left-leaning.

But the 3 most significant shifts are the Goldberg->Fortas->Blackmun mess, Marshall->Thomas, and Ginsburg->Barrett.  So 2 older justices declining a chance to retire when they could be sure of an ideologically similar successor, and 1 really weird case of a young, healthy justice being pushed out by a president with the same ideology in favor of someone who was corrupt as heck.   

Yeah, I can kind of see Marshall not resigning, it’s tough when it’s been 10ish years of Republican presidents and you’re getting really old. RBG on the other hand rolled the dice imo.