It was announced this afternoon that President Trump will have dinner with members of the U.S. Supreme Court this coming Thursday. It’s not yet clear if all of the justices will attend.

Some questions were raised via social media regarding how often presidents have dined with Supreme Court justices in the past. Some even suggested it was highly unusual. History proves the opposite. These dinners have been quite common since at least the 19th century.

According to the White House Historical Association, “[d]uring the nineteenth century, a series of ‘state dinners’ were held every winter social season to honor Congress, the Supreme Court and members of the diplomatic community. Note: these dinners were called “state dinners” even though they lacked official foreign representation.

I did some research online, and was able to find a number of other instances of Supreme Court justices dining with presidents. The practice appears quite common.

(1) Supreme Court Justices dined at the White House during the Rutherford B. Hayes administration.

(2) 1890: Here is a New York Times report on President Benjamin Harrison and his wife hosting a dinner with members of the U.S. Supreme Court in April 1890. Members of Congress were also present at the dinner.

(3) 1939: Here is a photograph from the Library of Congress showing Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and his wife leaving for a dinner on January 19, 1939, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt and members of the U.S. Supreme Court. Roosevelt hosted an annual White House dinner honoring members of the federal judiciary.

[UPDATE: Per Smithsonian magazine: FDR dined with Supreme Court Justices just days before announcing his Court packing scheme and during a time when the Justices were hearing challenges to FDR’s New Deal agenda:

The Supreme Court itself had no inkling of what was afoot. When the president entertained the judiciary at a White House dinner on February 2, he told adviser Donald Richberg that “his choice should be whether to take only one cocktail before dinner and have it a very amiable affair, or to have a mimeographed copy of the program laid beside the plate of each justice and then take three cocktails to fortify himself against their reactions.” The banquet was an amiable affair. But as the evening drew to a close, Idaho’s senator William Borah, sensing something as he saw the president chatting with two of the justices, remarked: “That reminds me of the Roman Emperor who looked around his dinner table and began to laugh when he thought how many of those heads would be rolling on the morrow.”

Three days later, on February 5, 1937, Roosevelt shocked Congress, his closest advisers and the country by unleashing a thunderbolt. He asked Congress to empower him to appoint an additional justice for any member of the court over age 70 who did not retire.]

(4) A 1958 issue of Life Magazine about Mamie Eisenhower (clip below) shows her hosting a pre-dinner reception for a state dinner at the White House with Supreme Court Justices.

(5) President John F. Kennedy hosted a dinner jointly honoring the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.

(6) From the Gerald Ford President Library, correspondence regarding the planning of a White House social dinner with Supreme Court Justices.

(7) From the National Archives, a photo of President Jimmy Carter and his wife hosting an informal dinner for members of the Supreme Court and their spouses. (H/T Mitch Harper)

(8) From the Clinton Archives: Following Justice Ginsburg’s confirmation to the Court, White House Counsel Bernie Nussbaum and adviser Ron Klain suggested a dinner at the White House with all of the Justices “and their wives.” They went on to say “The dinner would be a courteous and informal way for the president to strengthen his relations with the members of the court—though, admittedly, the benefits of doing so are difficult to quantify.”

(9) In October 2008, President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush hosted a dinner at the White House in honor of the Chief Justice and the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court. 

(10) President Obama often invited Supreme Court justices to state dinners for foreign leaders. Justices Kennedy, Sotomayor, Kagan and Scalia all attended such dinners during his presidency.

Today, Neil Gorsuch was sworn is as the 113th justice of the United States Supreme Court. Video of his swearing in ceremony is available here.

In this photo provided by the Public Information Office Supreme Court of the U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., administers the Constitutional Oath to the Neil Gorsuch in a private ceremony attended by the Justices of the Supreme Court and members of the Gorsuch family, including wife Louise Gorsuch, Monday, April 10, 2017, in the Justices’ Conference Room at the Supreme Court in Washington. Surrounded by family and his soon-to-be Supreme Court colleagues, Gorsuch took the first of two oaths as he prepared to take his seat on the court. (Franz Jantzen/Public Information Office Supreme Court of the U.S. via AP)

US President Donald Trump watches as Justice Anthony Kennedy(R) administers the oath of office to Neil Gorsuch as an associate justice of the US Supreme Court in the Rose Garden of the White House on April 10, 2017 in Washington, DC and Louise Gorsuch looks on. / AFP PHOTO / Mandel NGANMANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images ORG XMIT: Justice A

Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are required to take two oaths before they may execute the duties of their appointed office.

The Constitutional Oath

Via Article VI of the United States Constitution:

The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.

The Constitution does not provide the wording for this oath, leaving that to the determination of Congress.

From 1789 until 1861, this oath was:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States.

During the 1860s, this oath was altered several times before Congress settled on the text used today, set out under 5 U. S. C. § 3331. This oath is now taken by all federal employees, other than the President.

I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

The Judicial Oath

The origin of the second oath is found in the Judiciary Act of 1789, which reads “the justices of the Supreme Court, and the district judges, before they proceed to execute the duties of their respective offices” to take a second oath or affirmation.

From 1789 to 1990, the original text used for this oath (1 Stat. 76 § 8) was:

I, _________, do solemnly swear or affirm that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________, according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.

In December 1990, the Judicial Improvements Act of 1990 replaced the phrase “according to the best of my abilities and understanding, agreeably to the Constitution” with “under the Constitution.” The revised Judicial Oath, found at 28 U. S. C. § 453, reads:

I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________ under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.

The Combined Oath

Upon occasion, appointees to the Supreme Court have taken a combined version of the two oaths, which reads:

I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________ under the Constitution and laws of the United States; and that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.

Source: https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/oath/textoftheoathsofoffice2009.aspx

With news coming out this afternoon that Senate Democrats officially have enough votes to filibuster the Supreme Court appointment of Judge Gorsuch, I thought I’d share here more information about Abe Fortas, whose nomination to be elevated to the position of Chief Justice, following Chief Justice Earl Warren’s retirement, was filibustered in the Senate.

Per the Senate Historical Office:

In June 1968, Chief Justice Earl Warren informed President Lyndon Johnson that he planned to retire from the Supreme Court. Concern that Richard Nixon might win the presidency later that year and get to choose his successor dictated Warren’s timing.

In the final months of his presidency, Johnson shared Warren’s concerns about Nixon and welcomed the opportunity to add his third appointee to the Court. To replace Warren, he nominated Associate Justice Abe Fortas, his longtime confidant. Anticipating Senate concerns about the prospective chief justice’s liberal opinions, Johnson simultaneously declared his intention to fill the vacancy created by Fortas’ elevation with Appeals Court Judge Homer Thornberry. The president believed that Thornberry, a Texan, would mollify skeptical southern senators.

A seasoned Senate vote-counter, Johnson concluded that despite filibuster warnings he just barely had the support to confirm Fortas. The president took encouragement from indications that his former Senate mentor, Richard Russell, and Republican Minority Leader Everett Dirksen would support Fortas, whose legal brilliance both men respected.

The president soon lost Russell’s support, however, because of administration delays in nominating his candidate to a Georgia federal judgeship. Johnson urged Senate leaders to waste no time in convening Fortas’ confirmation hearings. Responding to staff assurances of Dirksen’s continued support, Johnson told an aide, “Just take my word for it. I know [Dirksen]. I know the Senate. If they get this thing drug out very long, we’re going to get beat. Dirksen will leave us.”

Fortas became the first sitting associate justice, nominated for chief justice, to testify at his own confirmation hearing. Those hearings reinforced what some senators already knew about the nominee. As a sitting justice, he regularly attended White House staff meetings; he briefed the president on secret Court deliberations; and, on behalf of the president, he pressured senators who opposed the war in Vietnam. When the Judiciary Committee revealed that Fortas received a privately funded stipend, equivalent to 40 percent of his Court salary, to teach an American University summer course, Dirksen and others withdrew their support. Although the committee recommended confirmation, floor consideration sparked a filibuster.

On October 1, 1968, the Senate failed to invoke cloture. Johnson then withdrew the nomination, privately observing that if he had another term, “the Fortas appointment would have been different.”

For additional information about the Supreme Court confirmation hearing process, check out this post.