Supreme Court Trivia:
Who was nominated to fill a vacancy on the United States Supreme Court that was never filled?
Anwser: Henry Stanbery.
The Congressional Research Service explains:
Thanks to Ed Whelan for the link.
The Congressional Research Service explains:
On April 16, 1866, President Andrew Johnson nominated Henry Stanbery to replace John Catron, who had died the previous May. By the time Stanbery was nominated, however, the House of Representatives had passed a bill decreasing the number of justices in the Supreme Court. The act, as signed into law on July 23, 1866, called for a decrease in the number of Associate Justices from nine to six through the process of attrition. At the time the bill was initiated and also at the time its final version was signed, only one vacancy, that to which Stanbery was nominated, existed on the Court. Eight Associate Justice positions remained on the bench until the death of James M. Wayne in July 1867. Seven Associate Justice positions remained until a law was passed in April 1869 to increase the number back to eight.Stanbery was nominated for a vacancy that was never filled, because it was eliminated by Congress. (I'm assuming that when the Supreme Court was expanded again, the new seat wasn't the same one that was eliminated, thus recreating the vacancy. A debatable point, maybe. But hey, it's good enough for a trivia question.)
Thanks to Ed Whelan for the link.
The new Attorney General played a key role in Johnson’s Reconstruction and impeachment battles against the Radical Republican Congress. In early 1867, he joined former Attorney General Jeremiah Black in preparing Johnson’ s veto message of the first Military Reconstruction Act, which they deemed to be unconstitutional. In May, Stanbery prepared an opinion on Congressional Reconstruction policies that he presented before President Johnson and the Cabinet. The Attorney General accused military officials of violating the rights of state officials and state governments without proper authority, and upheld the efforts of the President to control the Reconstruction process. The entire cabinet supported Stanbery’s position except for Secretary of War Stanton. The Congress, however, ignored all of the Attorney General’s arguments and passed the Third Military Reconstruction Act in July.
In early 1868, Stanbery advised Johnson not to remove Stanton from office, but the president chose not to listen. When impeachment proceeding began, Stanbery resigned as Attorney General to head Johnson’s team of defense lawyers. His first act was to insist that the president should heed counsel on all points and stop talking to the press. After the Senate acquitted Johnson, the president placed Stanbery’s name before them for reappointment as Attorney General. The Senate rejected the proposal, but quickly approved another member of Johnson’s defense counsel, Republican William Evarts, for the position. Stanbery died in New York City.
OK's query regarded a seat that was never filled, and arguably Justice Fortas' seat was filled after he resigned. That said, however, Homer Thornbury was definitely nominated for an occupied seat which would be opened only by the predicate event of its occupant being confirmed as Chief Justice.
Since the predicate event never occurred, the vacancy never occurred. AJS deserves at least partial credit for his response.
Thus it was that Captain Jefferson Davis gave Abraham Lincoln his first oath of office.