--- title: Scalia: What Happened During Election Year Court Vacancies description: The U.S. President has rarely failed to successfully appoint a new successor to the Supreme Court because of an impending election. canonical: https://time.com/4224433/supreme-court-vacancies-elections/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-14T19:05:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:13:32.739Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's What Happened During Other Supreme Court Vacancies in Election Years og:description: Many of them were successfully confirmed og:url: https://time.com/4224433/supreme-court-vacancies-elections/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fbc2fdc052eaf77/69887da2ab6d770d9d6a86d7/supreme-court1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Dies At Age 79 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What Happened During Other Supreme Court Vacancies in Election Years twitter:description: Many of them were successfully confirmed twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3fbc2fdc052eaf77/69887da2ab6d770d9d6a86d7/supreme-court1.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What Happened During Other Supreme Court Vacancies in Election Years  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Feb 14, 2016 7:05 PM UTC  Visitors walk outside the U.S. Supreme Court following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Visitors walk outside the U.S. Supreme Court following the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.Drew Angerer-Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Feb 14, 2016 7:05 PM UTC The President of the United States has rarely failed to [successfully appoint a new Justice](http://time.com/4220790/president-obama-justice-scalia-replacement/) to the Supreme Court because of an impending election. However, an outgoing President Obama faces a [mounting battle over his replacement](http://time.com/4220762/antonin-scalia-dead-republican-party-senate-congress/) for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died Saturday, as Republicans and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell argue that the late conservative’s successor shouldn’t be picked until a new president is elected. Other [bench vacancies](http://time.com/4220701/justice-scalia-death-supreme-court-replacement/) were filled during presidential election years, [according to SCOTUSblog](http://www.scotusblog.com/2016/02/supreme-court-vacancies-in-presidential-election-years/), which covers developments within the country’s highest federal court. President William Taft nominated Mahlon Pitney to succeed John Marshall Harlan on March 13, 1912 after Harlan died about five months earlier. The Republican-controlled Senate approved Pitney less than a week after the nomination. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson nominated Louis Brandeis to replace Joseph Lamar Rucker, who died, and John Clarke to replace Charles Evans Hughes, who resigned from the Court. In the following decades, then-Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan also made appointments. However, presidents didn’t confirm a successor during an election year only twice in the 20th century, according to the blog. In 1956, Dwight Eisenhower made a recess appointment, giving William J. Brennan a seat on the court just before the November election. Brennan was later confirmed in 1957. In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson nominated Abe Fortas, who was already sitting as an Associate Justice, to succeed Chief Justice Earl Warren. However, the nomination led to a filibuster after many objected to Fortas, as well as the seat being filled in an election year. 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