George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates

John Roberts is sworn in as chief justice by senior Associate Justice John Paul Stevens in the East Room of the White House on the same day as his confirmation, September 29, 2005.
Samuel Alito is sworn in as an associate justice by Chief Justice John Roberts in the East Room of the White House on the day after his confirmation, February 1, 2006.

Speculation abounded over potential nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States by President George W. Bush since before his presidency.

In the summer of 2005, this speculation became newsworthy due to the announcement of the retirement of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on July 1. President Bush announced federal appellate judge John Roberts as O'Connor's replacement on July 19.

On September 5, two days after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist, Bush renominated Roberts as the 17th chief justice of the United States. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on September 29, 2005.[1]

On October 3, Bush nominated White House Counsel Harriet Miers to succeed O'Connor. However, Miers withdrew her nomination on October 27 after facing significant opposition.

On October 31, Bush nominated another federal appellate judge, Samuel Alito, as his new choice to replace O'Connor. Alito was confirmed as the 110th justice of the Supreme Court on January 31, 2006.[2]

  1. ^ U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes – Nomination of John Roberts, senate.gov.
  2. ^ James L. Gibson, and Gregory A. Caldeira, "Confirmation politics and the legitimacy of the US Supreme Court: Institutional loyalty, positivity bias, and the Alito nomination." American Journal of Political Science 53.1 (2009): 139-155 online Archived 2020-10-24 at the Wayback Machine.