Woodrow Wilson Supreme Court candidates
Woodrow Wilson appointed three Associate Justices to the Supreme Court of the United States, James Clark McReynolds, Louis Brandeis, and John Hessin Clarke.
James Clark McReynolds nomination
Following the sudden death of Horace Harmon Lurton in 1914, Wilson nominated his Attorney General, James Clark McReynolds. Some accounts "attribute Wilson's choice of McReynolds to inattention, or his desire to kick a politically troublesome attorney-general upstairs".[1] Nominated on August 19, 1914, the Senate confirmed him ten days later on a 44–6 vote.[2] When nominating McReynolds, Wilson erroneously believed him to be a liberal, but during his tenure as a justice, McReynolds became "best remembered as a stalwart conservative and a foe of economic regulatory power by government."[3] Over his 26 years on the Court, McReynolds strongly opposed the New Deal and was a reactionary,[4] known for his open racism and antisemitism.[3]
Louis Brandeis nomination
Following the death of
The controversy surrounding Brandeis's nomination was so great that the
What Brandeis's opponents most objected to was his "radicalism." The
According to legal historian Scott Powe, much of the opposition to Brandeis' appointment also stemmed from "blatant anti-semitism."[8] Taft would accuse Brandeis of using his Judaism to curry political favor, and Wickersham would refer to Brandeis' supporters (and Taft's critics) as "a bunch of Hebrew uplifters."[12] Senator Henry Cabot Lodge privately complained that "If it were not that Brandeis is a Jew, and a German Jew, he would never have been appointed[.]"[13]
Those in favor of seeing him join the court were just as numerous and influential. Supporters included attorneys, social workers, and reformers with whom he had worked on cases, and they testified eagerly in his behalf. Harvard law professor Roscoe Pound told the committee that "Brandeis was one of the great lawyers," and predicted that he would one day rank "with the best who have sat upon the bench of the Supreme Court." Other lawyers who supported him pointed out to the committee that he "had angered some of his clients by his conscientious striving to be fair to both sides in a case."[10]: 208
In May, when the Senate Judiciary Committee asked the Attorney General to provide the letters of endorsement that traditionally accompanied a Supreme Court nomination, Attorney General
I cannot speak too highly of his impartial, impersonal, orderly, and constructive mind, his rare analytical powers, his deep human sympathy, his profound acquaintance with the historical roots of our institutions and insight into their spirit, or of the many evidences he has given of being imbued, to the very heart, with our American ideals of justice and equality of opportunity; of his knowledge of modern economic conditions and of the way they bear upon the masses of the people, or of his genius in getting persons to unite in common and harmonious action and look with frank and kindly eyes into each other's minds, who had before been heated antagonists.[14]
A month later, on June 1, 1916, the Senate officially
Once on the Court, Brandeis kept active politically but worked behind the scenes, as was acceptable at the time. He was an advisor to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal through intermediaries.[16] Many of his disciples held influential jobs, especially in the Justice Department. Brandeis and Felix Frankfurter often collaborated on political issues.[17][18]
John Hessin Clarke
In June 1916, a vacancy arose on the Supreme Court when Associate Justice
After having Newton Baker (Wilson's Secretary of War and a close friend of Clarke's) speak with Clarke to confirm his opposition to trusts,[20] Wilson offered Clarke the nomination. Though Clarke was reluctant to abandon trial for appellate work, he felt he could not pass on such an honor and accepted. Wilson sent his name to the Senate on July 14, 1916 and Clarke was confirmed by the United States Senate unanimously ten days later.
Names mentioned
Following is a list of individuals who were mentioned in various news accounts and books as having been considered by Wilson for a Supreme Court appointment:–
United States District Court judges
- John Hessin Clarke (1857–1945) – United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio (nominated and confirmed)
State Supreme Courts
- Waller Washington Graves (1860-1928) – Judge of the Supreme Court of Missouri[21]
- William Reynolds Allen (1860-1921) – Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court[22]
United States Senators
- John K. Shields (1858-1934) – United States Senator from Tennessee[23]
Executive Branch
- William Howard Taft (1857-1930) – former President of the United States[22][24] (later nominated as Chief Justice by President Warren G. Harding and confirmed)
- United States Attorney General[23](nominated and confirmed)
- United States Solicitor General[23]
- United States Solicitor General; 1924 Democratic Presidential candidate[23]
- Lindley Miller Garrison (1864-1932) – Secretary of War[23]
Other backgrounds
- Louis Dembitz Brandeis(1856–1941) — economic adviser and private attorney (nominated and confirmed)
See also
References
- ^ Paul D. Moreno, The American State from the Civil War to the New Deal (Cambridge University Press, 2013), p. 151.
- ^ Peter G. Renstrom, The Taft Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy (ABC-CLIO, 2003), p. 59.
- ^ a b James W. Ely, Jr., "McReynolds, James C. (1962-1946)" in Encyclopedia of American Civil Liberties (Vol. 1, Taylor & Francis, 2006), pp. 992-93.
- ^ Michael J. Phillips, The Lochner Court, Myth and Reality: Substantive Due Process from the 1890s to the 1930s (Praeger, 2001), p. 48.
- ^ New York Times: Brandeis Named for Highest Court," January 29, 1916. Retrieved February 21, 2010.
- ^ John Milton Cooper, Woodrow Wilson: A Biography (2011), p. 329.
- ^ a b Mason, Thomas A. Brandeis: A Free Man's Life, Viking Press (1946).
- ^ a b "National Public Radio: A History of Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings".
- ^ Klebanow, Diana, and Jonas, Franklin L. People's Lawyers: Crusaders for Justice in American History, M.E. Sharpe (2003).
- ^ a b Todd, Alden L. Justice on Trial: The Case of Louis D. Brandeis, McGraw-Hill (1964).
- ^ Douglas, William O. "Louis Brandeis: Dangerous Because Incorruptible" Book review of Justice on Trial, New York Times, July 5, 1964.
- ^ Afran, Bruce, & Garber, Robert A. (2005). Jews on Trial. pp. 157–158.
- ^ Afran, Bruce, & Garber, Robert A. (2005). Jews on Trial. p. 154.
- ^ Woodrow Wilson (1918). Selected Addresses and Public Papers of Woodrow Wilson. Boni and Liveright, Inc. p. 119.
- ^ "Confirm Brandeis by Vote of 47 to 22," June 2, 1916, accessed December 31, 2009.
- ^ Richard A. Colignon (1997). Power Plays: Critical Events in the Institutionalization of the Tennessee Valley Authority. SUNY Press. p. 170.
- ^ Bruce Allen Murphy, The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection: The Secret Activities of Two Supreme Court Justices (Oxford University Press, 1982) p. 343.
- ^ The famed jurist Learned Hand "thought it appropriate for a federal judge to offer private advice, as he so frequently did with Theodore Roosevelt, so long as there was no prominent public identification with the cause." See Gerald Gunther (2010). Learned Hand: The Man and the Judge. p. 202.
- ^ Woodrow Wilson to Edward M. House, July 23, 1916. in The Papers of Woodrow Wilson, vol. 37, ed. Arthur S. Link (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1981), p. 467.
- ^ Newton D. Baker to Woodrow Wilson, July 10, 1916. In Link (1981), p. 397-8.
- ^ ‘To Fill Supreme Court Vacancy: Several Candidates for Position Held by Late Justice Lamar’; Alexandria Gazette, January 4, 1916, p. 1.
- ^ a b c ‘Wilson Delays Filling Supreme Court Place: Taft, Allen and Secretary of Interior Lane Mentioned’; Lima Republican-Gazette, January 8, 1916, p. 4.
- ^ a b c d e f ‘Democrat Likely to be Nominated in Lurton’s Place’; The Birmingham News, July 13, 1914, p. 7.
- Washington Post, July 13, 1914, p. 2.