--- title: Neil Gorsuch Confirmation Sets Record for Longest Vacancy description: The Neil Gorsuch confirmation set a new record for the longest vacancy since Congress settled on a nine-justice high court. canonical: https://time.com/4731066/neil-gorsuch-confirmation-record-vacancy/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-04-07T16:20:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T04:17:34.403Z article:section: Politics og:title: Neil Gorsuch Confirmation Sets Record For Longest Vacancy on 9-Member Supreme Court og:description: Beating the previous record by a month. og:url: https://time.com/4731066/neil-gorsuch-confirmation-record-vacancy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6298585479c408ea/6988be73196cf43ce103f3c4/170315_gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2573 og:image:height: 1447 og:image:alt: 170315-neil-gorsuch og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Neil Gorsuch Confirmation Sets Record For Longest Vacancy on 9-Member Supreme Court twitter:description: Beating the previous record by a month. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6298585479c408ea/6988be73196cf43ce103f3c4/170315_gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Neil Gorsuch Confirmation Sets Record For Longest Vacancy on 9-Member Supreme Court  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 7, 2017 4:20 PM UTC  Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch, walks alongside former US Senator Kelly Ayotte (L), as he arrives for a meeting at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, February 2, 2017\. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch, walks alongside former US Senator Kelly Ayotte (L), as he arrives for a meeting at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, February 2, 2017\. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Apr 7, 2017 4:20 PM UTC For the first time in more than a year, there will be nine Justices on the [Supreme Court,](http://time.com/4728662/neil-gorsuch-senate-cloture/) a new record for the longest vacancy since Congress settled on a nine-justice high court. [Justice Antonin Scalia](http://time.com/4224440/antonin-scalia-heart-attack/) died on February 13, 2016, and Gorsuch, who [was confirmed Friday](http://time.com/4730746/neil-gorsuch-confirmed-supreme-court-year/), is [set to be sworn in](https://twitter.com/adamliptak/status/850381048416546816) by Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday — a 422-day vacancy. Previously, the longest record for a vacancy on a nine member Supreme Court was 389 days, the period between Abe Fortas’ resignation on May 14, 1969, and Harry Blackmun’s oath of office of June 9, 1970. [MORE: Antonin Scalia’s Open Supreme Court Seat Could Set Record For Vacancy](http://time.com/4224348/scalia-vacancy-supreme-court/) That means the vacancy was a full month longer than the previous record. The vacancy was entirely due to politics. After President Obama [nominated Merrick Garland](http://time.com/4261007/merrick-garland-supreme-court-barack-obama/) to the seat, Senate Republicans refused to vote, arguing that the seat shouldn’t be filled in an election year. There were longer vacancies on the Supreme Court, however. According to the [Pew Research Center](http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/02/26/long-supreme-court-vacancies-used-to-be-more-common/), a seat remained empty for 841 days between April 1844 and August 1846\. But the Scalia vacancy was the longest since 1869, when Congress set the number of justices at nine. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4731066/neil-gorsuch-confirmation-record-vacancy/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4731066/neil-gorsuch-confirmation-record-vacancy/"},"headline":"Neil Gorsuch Confirmation Sets Record For Longest Vacancy on 9-Member Supreme Court","datePublished":"2017-04-07T16:20:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T04:17:34.403Z","description":"Beating the previous record by a month","url":"https://time.com/4731066/neil-gorsuch-confirmation-record-vacancy/","keywords":["Supreme Court","onetime","Neil Gorsuch"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6298585479c408ea/6988be73196cf43ce103f3c4/170315_gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6298585479c408ea/6988be73196cf43ce103f3c4/170315_gorsuch.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"170315-neil-gorsuch","caption":"US-POLITICS-TRUMP-COURT","creditText":"Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/supreme-court/","name":"Supreme Court"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4731066/neil-gorsuch-confirmation-record-vacancy/","name":"Neil Gorsuch Confirmation Sets Record For Longest Vacancy on 9-Member Supreme Court"}}]}] ```