Early in his first term, President Nixon set out to reshape the hyper-leftist Warren Supreme Court by appointing a conservative southerner. Nixon’s speechwriter and advisor Pat Buchanan saw the effort to reshape the court as a top domestic priority.
The effort was a failure. 🧵
The effort was a failure. 🧵
Nixon had sought accommodation with the Left by leaving LBJ’s Great Society in place, and by appointing liberals and moderates (e.g. Moynihan, Romney) to his administration. (Buchanan thought this was a mistake, believing Nixon should have reached out to Wallace supporters).
Buchanan believed the Warren court was already “well along in its campaign to de-Christianizing America – having purged religious instruction and voluntary prayer and Bible reading from the public schools of what was still a Christian nation.”
The Warren Court had also been bending over backwards on behalf of criminals. With the crime rate skyrocketing, Nixon had appointed Burger as a “law and order” Justice. But Burger disappointed conservatives, voting with the leftist bloc on forced integration and abortion.
Nixon had committed to putting a conservative southerner on the court - And In 1971 he nominated Clement Haynsworth. A Harvard Law grad and a sitting chief circuit judge, Haynsworth appeared to be a safe, uncontroversial choice.
But in a now well-worn storyline, Haynsworth was instantly smeared as a “racist” and attacked by the usual suspects – Leftist politicians, their media allies, and activist groups. The nomination was rejected 55 – 45. Nixon’s olive branch to the Left had earned him no goodwill.
An angry Nixon quickly nominated another southerner: G. Harrold Carswell of the Fifth Circuit. Buchanan, tasked with writing a brief bio of the nominee for the press, called his for some background – Buchanan immediately sensed that the nomination was in trouble.
And when decades-old pro-segregations speeches were dug up, Carswell’s nomination was doomed. Once again, the usual suspects attacked the nominee as a racist, and he was voted down 51-45.
Nixon was outraged, but he threw in the towel on nominating a southerner.
Nixon was outraged, but he threw in the towel on nominating a southerner.
Incredibly, it was Harry Blackman who would eventually fill the vacancy. He would go on to be reliable member to of far-left voting bloc, and the author of the Roe opinion. As Buchanan noted with understatement, Nixon was not well-served by his administration's vetting process.
Ironically when a conservative southern justice was finally confirmed on the court, it turned out to be Clarence Thomas. Apparently it is possible to get a conservative southerner on the Court, but it may help if he happens to be Black (and it probably helps if he is Catholic).
Buchanan had consistently argued the political advantages on nominating an Italian Catholic to the court. This strategy would eventually pay huge dividends for conservatives, as Justice Scalia and Justice Alito would prove to be two of the most conservative justices of our era.
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