Unsuccessful nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States

This article is part of a series on the
Supreme Court of the United States
The Court
History Procedures Nomination and confirmation Judiciary Committee review Demographics Ideological leanings of justices Lists of decisions Supreme Court building
Current membership
Chief Justice John Roberts Associate justices Clarence Thomas Samuel Alito Sonia Sotomayor Elena Kagan Neil Gorsuch Brett Kavanaugh Amy Coney Barrett Ketanji Brown Jackson Retired justices Anthony Kennedy David Souter Stephen Breyer
Lists of justices
List of all justices by court by time in office by seat by education List of chief justices List of associate justices Specialty lists All nominations Unsuccessful nominations Confirmation votes Justices who served in Congress Burial places of justices
Court functionaries
Clerks Reporter of Decisions Marshal of the Court Supreme Court Police
Other countries Law Portal
v t e

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Established by Article III of the Constitution, the detailed structure of the court was laid down by the 1st United States Congress in 1789. Congress specified the Court's original and appellate jurisdiction, created 13 judicial districts, and fixed the initial size of the Supreme Court. The number of justices on the Supreme Court changed six times before settling at the present total of nine in 1869.^[1] As of June 2022, a total of 116 justices have served on the Supreme Court since 1789.^[2] Justices have life tenure, and so they serve until they die in office, resign or retire, or are impeached and removed from office.

Justices are nominated by the President of the United States and then must be confirmed by the United States Senate, before being officially appointed. A nomination to the Court is considered to be official when the Senate receives a signed nomination letter from the president naming the nominee, which is then entered in the Senate's record. There have been 37 unsuccessful nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States. Of these, 11 nominees were rejected in Senate roll-call votes, 11 were withdrawn by the president, and 15 lapsed at the end of a session of Congress.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 of these unsuccessful nominees were subsequently nominated and confirmed to seats on the Court.^[3] Additionally, although confirmed, seven nominees declined office and one died before assuming office.^[4]