Clement Haynsworth

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Clement Furman Haynsworth, Jr. (October 30, 1912 – November 22, 1989) was a United States judge and an unsuccessful nominee for the United States Supreme Court.

Haynsworth was born in Greenville, South Carolina and he was a graduate of Furman University and the Harvard Law School. During World War II, he served in the United States Navy (1942-1945). Haynsworth was nominated to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on February 19, 1957 and he was confirmed shortly afterwards.

Haynsworth was nominated to be an Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court on August 21, 1969 by President Richard Nixon to replace liberal justice Abe Fortas, who had resigned due to conflict of interest charges. Haynsworth was opposed by Democrats, Liberal Republicans, and the NAACP. He was alleged to have made court decisions favoring segregation and being reflexively anti-labor. Also, he was accused of ruling in cases where he had a financial interest, although this was never proven. Interestingly, his nomination was supported by the Washington Post, generally considered to be the "liberal" newspaper in Washington, D.C.

Haynsworth was defeated by a 55 to 45 vote on November 21, 1969. 19 Democrats and 26 Republicans voted for Haynsworth while 38 Democrats and 17 Republicans voted against the nomination. Haynsworth was the first Supreme Court nominee since John J. Parker (1930) to be defeated by the Senate.

After his defeat, Haynsworth remained on the Fourth Circuit until his death in 1989.

(Haynsworth is occasionally confused with G. Harrold Carswell, who was unsuccessfully nominated the next year for the same vacancy.)

[edit] External links

Ron Schuler's Parlour Tricks: Clement Haynesworth
Federal Judicial Center, biographical listing for Clement Haynsworth, Jr.