Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2022: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President

The process of appointing Supreme Court Justices has undergone changes over two centuries, but its most basic feature, the sharing of power between the President and Senate, has remained unchanged. To receive a lifetime appointment to the Court, a candidate must, under the “Appointments Clause” of the Constitution, first be nominated by the President and then confirmed by the Senate. A key role also has come to be played midway in the process by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Table 1 of this report lists and describes actions taken by the Senate, the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the President on all Supreme Court nominations, from 1789 through 2022. The table provides the name of each person nominated to the Court and the name of the President making the nomination. It also tracks the dates of formal actions taken, and time elapsing between these actions, by the Senate or Senate Judiciary Committee on each nomination, starting with the date that the Senate received the nomination from the President. Of the 45 Presidents of the United States to date, 42 have made nominations to the Supreme Court. Altogether, these Presidents made a total of 165 nominations to the Court, of which 128 (78%) were confirmed by the Senate. Also, on 12 occasions in the nation’s history, Presidents have made temporary recess appointments to the Court, without first submitting nominations to the Senate. Of the 37 unsuccessful Supreme Court nominations, 11 were rejected in Senate roll call votes, 11 were withdrawn by the President, and 15 lapsed at the end of a session of Congress. Six individuals whose initial nominations were not confirmed were later renominated and confirmed to positions on the Court. A total of 122 of the 165 nominations were referred to a Senate committee, with 121 of them to the Judiciary Committee (including almost all nominations since 1868). Prior to 1916, the Judiciary Committee considered these nominations behind closed doors. Since 1946, however, almost all nominees have received public confirmation hearings. Most recent hearings have lasted four or more days. In recent decades, from the late 1960s to the present, the Judiciary Committee has tended to take more time before starting hearings and casting final votes on Supreme Court nominations than it did previously. The median time taken for the full Senate to take final action on Supreme Court nominations also has increased in recent decades, dwarfing the median time taken on earlier nominations. The information presented in this report is current through the confirmation of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson in 2022. For additional perspectives on actions taken on Supreme Court nominations, in earlier historical periods as well as in the modern era, see CRS Report R44235, Supreme Court Appointment Process: President’s Selection of a Nominee; CRS Report R44236, Supreme Court Appointment Process: Consideration by the Senate Judiciary Committee; CRS Report R44234, Supreme Court Appointment Process: Senate Debate and Confirmation Vote; CRS Report R44773, The Scalia Vacancy in Historical Context: Frequently Asked Questions; CRS Insight IN11514, Supreme Court Vacancies That Occurred During Presidential Election Years (1789-2020), by Barry J. McMillion; CRS Insight IN11519, Final Action by the Senate on Supreme Court Nominations During Presidential Election Years (1789-2020), by Barry J. McMillion; and CRS Report R44819, Senate Proceedings Establishing Majority Cloture for Supreme Court Nominations: In Brief, by Valerie Heitshusen.