Alternate SCOTUS Appointments

[JVM]

One of the things I struggle most with as a newbie to AltHistory is factoring in SCOTUS appointments. There's never 'frontrunners' for this sort of thing or campaigns, so you only really know who won usually - or the highest-profile losers.

That said, I figured it'd be interesting to have a topic to discuss alternate SCOTUS appointments - I'm mostly curious about alternate choices from '91 through '93 - and how their decisions could effect history.

 

[anon_user]

Wikipedia has a series of articles (one for each President, starting from Harding) on the Supreme Court candidates of each president - including the names that were mentioned in the press. Here's George H.W. Bush's page.

 

[Paul V McNutt]

I remember reading that Justice Harlan had some health problems in 1964. If you move them back on year and make them more serious, he resigns in 1963. pPresident Kennedy appoint Archibald Cox. oOTL William Rhenquist replaced Harlan, so I don't see how he gets on the court. wWhen Warren Berger retires President Reagan sends the name of Robert Bork and the Republican controlled sSenate confirms him. sSome other prominent liberal lawyer is Watergate Specal Prosecutor and gets fired by Richard Nixon. cCox retires in 1993 and is replaced by Bruce Babbitt.

 

[fb111a]

Three possibilities:
1990: Emilio Garza appointed to SCOTUS over David Souter
1987: Alex Kozinski appointed to SCOTUS instead of Anthony Kennedy
1981: Dallin H. Oaks appointed to SCOTUS instead of Sandra Day O'Connor

 

[Paul V McNutt]

Here is the membership of the Supreme Court in my tTL are Chief Justice Diane Woods appointed by Ptesident Obama in 2013following the death of Chief Justice Bork
aAssocaite Justice Antonin Scalia appointed by President Reagan in 1987 following the retirement of Lewis Powell.
aAssocaite Justice Clarence Thomas appointed by President Bush in 1991 following the retirement of Thurgood Marshall
aAssocaite Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg appointed by President Clinton in 1993 following the retirement of Byron White
aAssocaite Justice Bruce Babbitt appointed by President Clinton in 1993 following the retirement of Archibald Cox
aAssocaite Justice Steven Breyer appointed by President Clinton in 1994following the retirement of Harry Blackmun
aAssocaite Justice Sonya Sotomeyer appointed by President Gore ( Bush v Gote goes the other way) in 2003 following the retirement of David Souter
aAssocaite Justice Jennifet Granholm appointed by President Gore in 2005 following the retirement of jJohn Paul Stevens
aAssocaite Justice John Roberts appointed by President Romney in 2009 following the retirement of Sandra Day OConner

 

[JVM]

Wikipedia has a series of articles (one for each President, starting from Harding) on the Supreme Court candidates of each president - including the names that were mentioned in the press. Here's George H.W. Bush's page.

Thanks, I saw Reagan's page, but obviously it was very focused on Reagan's choices, which were obviously all conservative - I'm curious about the liberal alternatives and such as fb111a's ideas, which I do plan to look into.

Not that this was intended just for my own specific questioning. I thought it'd be a good catch-all discussion thread.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

This might help here