Speculation abounded over potential nominations to the Supreme Court of the United States by President George W. Bush since before his presidency.
Henry William Saad is a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals and a former nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
The Gang of 14 was a bipartisan group of Senators in the 109th United States Congress who successfully,at the time,negotiated a compromise in the spring of 2005 to avoid the deployment of the so-called "nuclear option" by Senate Republican Majority over an organized use of the filibuster by Senate Democrats.
Richard Allen Griffin is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. Previously,he was a judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals.
David William McKeague is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Terrence William Boyle is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. He was chief judge of that court from 1997 to 2004. He served a second term as chief judge from 2018 to 2021. From 1991 to 1993 and again from 2001 to 2007,he was a nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. His federal appellate nomination from 2001 to 2007 is the longest in history not to be acted upon by the United States Senate.
Susan Bieke Neilson was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,and before that,a state trial judge in Michigan.
Stephen Joseph Murphy III is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Kathleen McCree Lewis was an American lawyer and former federal judicial nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Barry P. Goode is a judge in Contra Costa County,California,and a former federal judicial nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
Raymond Michael Kethledge is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2008. Kethledge appeared on Donald Trump's list of potential Supreme Court of the United States nominees in 2016,and was described by press reports as a finalist in President Trump's nomination to replace Anthony Kennedy on the court.
During President Bill Clinton's first and second terms of office,he nominated 24 people for 20 federal appellate judgeships but the nominees were not processed by the Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee. Three of the nominees who were not processed were nominated after July 1,2000,the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. Democrats claim that Senate Republicans of the 106th Congress purposely tried to keep open particular judgeships as a political maneuver to allow a future Republican president to fill them. Of the 20 seats in question,four were eventually filled with different Clinton nominees,fourteen were later filled with Republican nominees by President George W. Bush and two continued to stay open during Bush's presidency. Senator Harry Reid,the Democratic leader of the United States Senate during the 110th Congress,and Senator Patrick Leahy,the Democratic leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee under Reid,repeatedly mentioned the controversy over President Clinton's court of appeals nominees during the controversy involving the confirmation of Republican court of appeals nominees during the last two years of Bush's second term. Republicans claimed that Democrats were refusing to confirm certain longstanding Bush nominees in order to allow a future Democratic president in 2009 to fill those judgeships.
During President George W. Bush's two term tenure in office,a few of his nominations for federal judgeships were blocked by the Senate Democrats either directly in the Senate Judiciary Committee or on the full Senate floor in various procedural moves,including the first use of a filibuster to block a Federal Appeals Court nominee. Republicans labeled it an unwarranted obstruction of professionally qualified judicial nominees.
James Arthur Beaty Jr. is a former United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina,and a former nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
U.S. President Barack Obama nominated over 400 individuals for federal judgeships during his presidency. Of these nominations,Congress confirmed 329 judgeships,173 during the 111th &112th Congresses and 156 during the 113th and 114th Congresses.
Joan Louise Larsen is an American attorney serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She previously was an associate justice of the Michigan Supreme Court from 2015 to 2017.
Mary Margaret Rowland is a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and a former United States Magistrate Judge for the same court.
Stephanie Dawkins Davis is an American lawyer who is serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She previously served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and a former United States magistrate judge of the same court.
Andre Bernard Mathis is an American lawyer who is serving as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Nancy Lee Maldonado is an American lawyer from Chicago who has served as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit since 2024. She previously served as a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois from 2022 to 2024.
