Today in Supreme Court History: November 22, 1963

11/22/1963: President Lyndon B. Johnson takes the oath of office. He would appoint two Justices to the Supreme Court: Abe Fortas and Thurgood Marshall.

President Johnson appointed Justices Fortas and Marshall

Comments

[Eddy]

Also, C. S. Lewis died.

Otherwise not a noteworthy day.

[Dan Schiavetta]

And so with the appointment of Thurgood Marshall the era of Democratic-appointed Supreme Court Justices came to an end, at least for a long time.

Jimmy Carter was the only President to serve a full term and not get a chance to appoint anyone to the Supreme Court. This caused a lot of dislocation. For 26 years (from 1967 to 1993), only Republicans got to appoint Supreme Court judges. We're still living with the consequences.

[Eddy]

Not to worry, there were always Blackmun, Souter, Stevens and Kennedy (and now apparently Roberts) to fill the role which would have been played by Democratic Justices.

[Eddy]

Not to mention a Republican appointee by the name of William Brennan.