Roll Call Votes to Confirm Supreme Court Nominations: Historical Analysis of Support and Opposition (1900-2020)

Roll Call Votes to Confirm Supreme Court Nominations: Historical Analysis of Support and Opposition (1900-2020)

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INSIGHTi

Roll Call Votes to Confirm Supreme Court
Nominations: Historical Analysis of Support
and Opposition (1900-2020)
April 1, 2022
This Insight provides analysis of the roll call votes used to confirm Supreme Court nominees from 1900
through 2020. Specifically, the Insight examines historical patterns of partisan support and opposition
among Senators in casting votes on whether to confirm nominees to the Court. For additional information
about the final stage of the confirmation process, see CRS Report R44234, Supreme Court Appointment
Process: Senate Debate and Confirmation Vote.
A roll call vote to confirm a nominee requires a simple majority of Senators present and voting, a quorum
being present. Overall, from 1900 to 2020, there were 38 Supreme Court nominations that received a roll
call vote on whether to confirm a nominee to the Court. Since 1967 (starting with the confirmation vote
for Thurgood Marshall), each of the 24 Senate votes on whether to confirm a nominee has been by roll
call vote. By contrast, from 1900 to 1966, 14 (or 33%) of the 42 votes on whether to confirm nominees to
the Court were by roll call vote, whereas 28 (67%) were by voice vote or unanimous consent.
During this period there was notable variation in how Democratic and Republican Senators voted on
nominations to the Court. Figure 1 shows, for 37 of the 38 Supreme Court nominations that received a
confirmation vote from 1900 to 2020, the percentage of Republican and Democratic Senators voting in
support of, or in opposition to, the nomination (and whether more than half of Senators belonging to one
party voted differently on the nomination than more than half of Senators belonging to the other party).
Information for one of the nominations that received a roll call vote during this period is incomplete and,
consequently, is not included in Figure 1 (see the note at the bottom of the figure about the Taft
nomination).
Nominees Supported by a More than Half of Senators in Each Political Party
Of the 37 nominations included in Figure 1, 19 (51%) were supported by more than half of Senators in
each political party (excluding the Roberts nomination in 2005, which was supported by half of the
Democratic Senators voting on his nomination and also opposed by half of the party’s Senators). The
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most recent nomination that received support from more than half of Senators belonging to both parties
was that of Stephen Breyer in 1994 (with 79% of Senate Republicans voting to confirm him).
Even when a nominee is supported by more than half of Senators from both parties, it has been
historically rare, at least since 1900, for a nominee to be confirmed without receiving any “no” votes. Of
the 19 nominees whose nominations were supported by more than half of Senators from both parties, 5
(26%) were supported unanimously without receiving any “no” votes at the time of confirmation. These
five nominees were Anthony Kennedy (the most recent to have unanimous support), Antonin Scalia,
Sandra Day O’Connor, John Paul Stevens, and Harry Blackmun. Each of the five was nominated by a
Republican President.
Nominees Supported by More than Half of Senators in One Party and Opposed by
More than Half in the Other Party
Of the 37 nominations included in Figure 1, 17 (46%) were supported by more than half of Senators in
one party and opposed by more than half of Senators in the other party. The most recent instance of this
occurring was the vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 (when, for the first time since at least 1900,
there were no crossover votes in support of a nomination from Senators not belonging to the nominating
President’s political party).
The recent era of confirming nominees to the Supreme Court has been characterized by this particular
type of partisan split in support of, and opposition to, nominees (i.e., with more than half of Senators
belonging to one political party having voted to confirm a nominee and more than half of Senators
belonging to the other party having voted against confirmation). As shown by Figure 1, the six most
recent nominations to the Court (from 2006 to 2020) reflect this type of partisan split. These six
nominations represent 16% of the 37 nominations included in the figure but also represent 35% of the 17
instances from 1900 to 2020 when more than half of Senators of one political party voted differently on a
nomination than more than half of Senators in the other party.
Opposition to Nominees by Senators Belonging to a President’s Political Party
Of the 37 nominations included in Figure 1, 20 (54%) received at least one “no” vote from a Senator
belonging to the same political party as the nominating President. Such opposition, though, has been less
common since the 1970s. Specifically, of the 21 nominations to receive a confirmation vote from 1970
through 2020, 8 (38%) received at least one “no” vote from a Senator belonging to the same party as the
nominating President.
Overall, of the 776 “no” votes cast by Democratic and Republican Senators in opposition to confirming
Supreme Court nominees from 1900 to 2020, 106 (14%) were cast by Senators belonging to the same
political party as the nominating President.

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Figure 1. Partisan Support and Opposition to Supreme Court Nominations
(1900-2020)

Source: Review of historical congressional material by the Congressional Research Service.

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Support of Nominees by Senators Not Belonging to a President’s Political Party
Of the 37 nominations included in Figure 1, 36 (97%) received at least one “yes” vote from a Senator not
belonging to the same political party as the nominating President.
Overall, of the 2,466 “yes” votes cast by Democratic and Republican Senators to confirm Supreme Court
nominees from 1900 to 2020, 859 (35%) were cast by Senators who did not belong to the same political
party as the nominating President.

Author Information

Barry J. McMillion

Analyst in American National Government

Disclaimer
This document was prepared by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). CRS serves as nonpartisan shared staff
to congressional committees and Members of Congress. It operates solely at the behest of and under the direction of
Congress. Information in a CRS Report should not be relied upon for purposes other than public understanding of
information that has been provided by CRS to Members of Congress in connection with CRS’s institutional role.
CRS Reports, as a work of the United States Government, are not subject to copyright protection in the United
States. Any CRS Report may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety without permission from CRS. However,
as a CRS Report may include copyrighted images or material from a third party, you may need to obtain the
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