In this week’s Confirmation Tales post, I provide the answers to the five judicial-confirmation trivia questions in last week’s post, along with some additional information that you might find of interest. An excerpt:
4. Who was the most recent Supreme Court justice to take his or her seat by recess appointment?
Potter Stewart, on October 14, 1958, filling a seat vacated by Harold Burton.
President Eisenhower nominated Stewart to a lifetime position in the same seat in January 1959. The Senate confirmed that nomination in May 1959, and Eisenhower then appointed Stewart to that seat.
Eisenhower had done the same two-fer—a recess appointment followed by a lifetime Senate-confirmed appointment—for Chief Justice Earl Warren (October 1953 and March 1954) and Justice William J. Brennan Jr. (October 1956 and March 1957).
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