Richard Nixon judicial appointment controversies

This article is part of a series about Richard Nixon
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During President Richard Nixon's presidency, federal judicial appointments played a central role. Nixon appointed four individuals to the Supreme Court of the United States in just over five and a half years.

In 1969 President Richard Nixon nominated Warren E. Burger to be the new Chief Justice of the United States after the retirement of Earl Warren. Burger was quickly confirmed. However, when in the same year, he nominated Clement Haynsworth for a vacancy created by the resignation of Abe Fortas, controversy ensued. Haynsworth was rejected by the United States Senate. In 1970 Nixon nominated G. Harrold Carswell, who also was rejected by the Senate. Nixon then nominated Harry Blackmun, who was confirmed.

Nixon was shortly afterward faced with two new vacancies on the high bench due to the retirements of John Marshall Harlan and Hugo Black in 1971.

In spite of the rejections of Haynesworth and Carswell, Nixon announced that he would nominate Hershel Friday and Mildred Lillie to the high bench. Neither was well regarded. Friday was a former member of the American Bar Association House of Delegates; Lillie was then a little-known judge on an intermediate state appellate court in California. After the ABA reported both Friday and Lillie as "unqualified", Nixon nominated Lewis Powell and William H. Rehnquist for the vacancies instead, and both were confirmed.^[1][2][3]

At the appellate level, Nixon formally nominated one person, Charles A. Bane, for a federal appellate judgeship who was never confirmed. Nixon withdrew Bane's nomination on October 22, 1969 after controversies involving a tax case and allegations of anti-semitism.^{[4][5][6][7]: 207} Nixon wound up filling that seat with another nominee. Nixon also considered other appeals court nominees whom he never wound up nominating.