Wiley Rutledge Supreme Court nomination

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In October 1942, Associate Justice James F. Byrnes resigned from the Supreme Court of the United States, creating the ninth and final vacancy on the Supreme Court of Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.^[1] Per the Constitution of the United States, the president of the United States fills Supreme Court vacancies with the advice and consent of the United States Senate.

Rutledge had previously been given some consideration for appointment to the Supreme Court previous to 1942. In 1938, the well-regarded journalist

As a result of Roosevelt's many previous appointments to the Court, there was "no obvious successor, no obvious political debt to be paid", according to the scholar Henry J. Abraham.^[4] Some, including Justices Felix Frankfurter and Harlan F. Stone, encouraged Roosevelt to appoint the distinguished jurist Learned Hand.^[4] Frankfurter, with what Abraham called "not uncharacteristic overkill", lobbied with particular vigor on Hand's behalf: Roosevelt noted that he had received pleas to appoint Hand from "twenty [people], and every one of them a messenger from Felix Frankfurter" in a single day.^[4] But the president was uncomfortable appointing the seventy-one-year-old Hand due to his age. Roosevelt had previously cited the advanced age of Supreme Court justices to justify his 1937 proposal to expand the Court and he feared that he would appear hypocritical if he appointed an elderly jurist himself.^[5]

Irving Brant also again promoted Rutledge as a candidate for the court. Brant worked relentlessly to campaign for Roosevelt to appoint Rutledge. Brant solicited endorsements of Rutledge from politicians and lawyers and even paid a visit to Roosevelt to promote Rutledge as a candidate.[2] Brant's avid support for the appointment of Rutledge was fueled by strong impression that Rutledge had given Brant. Brant admired how Rutledge had publicly criticized the president of the American Bar Association after the president had defended decisions by the Supreme Court decision which stuck down limitations on child labor. Brant successfully directed Roosevelt's attention to Rutledge, in part, by touting him as the most likely candidate from a state west of the Mississippi River to support the principles of Roosevelt's New Deal.^[6] A strong reason for Brant's avid support for the appointment of Rutledge was the strong impression that Rutledge had given Brant. Brant admired how Rutledge had publicly criticized the president of the American Bar Association after the president had defended decisions by the Supreme Court decision which stuck down limitations on child labor.^[6] Additionally, Brant successfully directed Roosevelt's attention to Rutledge, in part, by touting him as the most likely candidate from a state west of the Mississippi River to support the principles of Roosevelt's New Deal.^[6]

Rutledge was considered about the workload of the position,^[2] and had no desire to be nominated to the Supreme Court, but his friends nonetheless wrote to Roosevelt and Biddle on his behalf.^[5] He wrote to Biddle disclaiming all interest in the position, and he admonished his friends with the words: "For God's sake, don't do anything about stirring up the matter! I am uncomfortable enough as it is."^[5] Still, Rutledge's supporters, most notably Irving Brant, continued to lobby the White House to nominate him, and Rutledge stated in private that he would not decline the nomination if Roosevelt offered it to him.^[5][4]

When Attorney General Biddle inquired with Supreme Court Justices

After meeting with Rutledge at the White House and being convinced by Biddle that the judge's judicial philosophy was fully aligned with his own, Roosevelt agreed to appoint Rutledge.[4]^: 186 Despite having appointed him years earlier to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Roosevelt had never before met Rutledge.^[6] According to the scholar Fred L. Israel, Roosevelt found Rutledge to be "a liberal New Dealer who combined the president's respect for the academic community with four years of service on a leading federal appellate court".^[7] Additionally, the fact that Rutledge was a Westerner weighed in his favor.^[1]: 292 The president told his nominee: "Wiley, we had a number of candidates for the Court who were highly qualified, but they didn't re geography—you have that".^[7]: 1318 Roosevelt also remarked to Wiley, who had lived in Colorado, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Tennessee at different points in his life, "You have a lot of geography."^[2]

Roosevelt formally nominated Rutledge, who was then forty-eight years old, to the Supreme Court on January 11, 1943.^[8] Rutledge was the only of Roosevelt's nominees to the Supreme Court that had experience serving as a member of a United States courts of appeals.^[9]

Judiciary Committee review

Subcommittee

A subcommittee of the

The subcommittee gave its approval to the nomination.[10] This vote was announced by O'Mahoney on January 28, 1943. While they had been urged by Fletcher and Risher to hold further hearings, the subcommittee voted against this and instead approved the nomination without conducting further hearings. The subcommittee wrote a favorable report for presentation to the full Judiciary Committee.^[14]

Full Judiciary Committee

The Judiciary Committee voted on February 1, 1943, to approve Rutledge's nomination; the vote was 11–0, with four abstentions.^[10] Those four senators—North Dakota's William Langer, West Virginia's Chapman Revercomb, Montana's Burton K. Wheeler, and Michigan's Homer S. Ferguson—abstained due to uneasiness about Rutledge's support for Roosevelt's 1937 court-expansion plan.^[5] Ferguson later spoke with Rutledge and indicated that his concerns had been resolved, but Wheeler, who had strongly opposed Roosevelt's efforts to enlarge the Court, said that he would vote against the nomination when it came before the full Senate.^[5]

Confirmation vote

The only senator to speak on the Senate floor in opposition to Rutledge's nomination was William Langer.^[5] Langer cited Ruteledge's lack of experience practicing law as a lawyer.^[15] He characterized Rutledge as "a man who, so far as I can ascertain, never practiced law inside a courtroom or, so far as I know, seldom even visited one until he came to take a seat on the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia" and commented that "[t]he Court is not without a professor or two already."^[5] The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed Rutledge by a voice vote on February 8, 1943,^[16] and he subsequently took the oath of office on February 15.^[17]

See also

• Franklin D. Roosevelt Supreme Court candidates
• List of federal judges appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt
• List of nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States

References