There Have Not Always Been Hearings

I learned a while ago that there were no voter registration requirements in the U.S., generally, until after Black men got the right to vote. 

Yesterday I learned from The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell that the first Senate confirmation hearings for a Supreme Court justice were not held until 1916, for Louis Brandeis, who was — wait for it — the first Jewish person nominated. (Though I just learned from this 2009 NPR story that Brandeis did not actually attend the hearings. They were, instead, in the tradition of advocates and opponents for a candidate speaking on his behalf, which is how presidential campaigns used to be run as well.)

Not only was Brandeis the first to be subject to a hearing, he was the only one for a while. The Senate didn't make hearings a regular practice until after 1938. Not surprisingly, the first nominee who did appear at his own hearing was another Jewish nominee, Felix Frankfurter, in 1939.  

According to O'Donnell's thinking, hearings did not become routine until the television age, when senators knew they would have the chance to be seen scoring points.

From the Last Word, I also was reminded how recently there have been Supreme Court justices who were not law school graduates. Overall, only 49 were/are juris doctors, out of 115. The last such person was Stanley Reed, who served from 1938–1957. He studied law without finishing, was admitted to the bar, and was a practicing attorney who was Solicitor General when he was nominated.

There are no requirements at all to be on the Supreme Court, not even a minimum age. Of course, it would be highly unlikely that anyone would be appointed these days without a law degree, given the relationship of education and professionalization in our society. 

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This Wikipedia page lists all of the justices, with the dates they were approved by the Senate, by what margin, and when they served.