<html><body> <DIV> </DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid"> -------------- Original message -------------- > Michael Hoover wrote: > > >fwiw: may be incorrect about this, but i believe miers appt is first > >instance of prez appointing his personal attorney to sc... michael hoover > > Didn't Johnson nominate Abe Fortas, who was his lawyer? > > Doug I believe that was the case. Harry Truman also named some of his cronies to the Court (including chief justice Vinson) who were responsible for some very bad rulings on the Smith Act and other civil liberties issues in the late 40s/early 50s.  It was probably fairly common in the 1800s to name close friends and political allies to the Court. SR > ___________________________________ > http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk </BLOCKQUOTE></body></html>