On August 21, 1969, President Richard Nixon nominated Haynsworth to be an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court on the recommendation of South Carolina Democratic Sen. Fritz Hollings. [3][4] He was proposed to succeed associate justice Abe Fortas, who had resigned over conflict of interest charges.[5]
Haynsworth was opposed by a coalition of Democrats (possibly in retaliation for the Republicans' rejection of Fortas as Chief Justice),[5]Rockefeller Republicans, and the NAACP. He was alleged to have made court decisions favoring segregation and of being reflexively anti-labor. Democratic United States SenatorPhilip Hart said that Haynsworth's decisions on civil rights and labor/management were "unacceptable", while Republican Senator Marlow Cook argued that Haynsworth was being "subjected to a character assassination that is unjustified". Cook argued that Haynsworth was "a man of honesty and a man of integrity".[6][a]
Controversy erupted over his rulings affirming the decision by local authorities to close the Prince Edward County schools to avoid integration, upholding the constitutionality of school voucher programs used to fund segregated private schools and supporting the management of the Darlington Manufacturing Company in South Carolina over its closing of the factory allegedly over unionization.[2] Haynsworth was also accused of ruling in cases in which he had a financial interest, although this claim was never proved.[5]
On October 9, 1969, after seven days of testimony the previous month, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10–7 to report the nomination to the full Senate with a favorable recommendation. Haynsworth's nomination was defeated by a 45–55 vote on November 21, 1969.[4] Nineteen Democrats – of whom only Mike Gravel of Alaska represented a state outside the South – and 26 Republicans voted for Haynsworth while 38 Democrats and 17 Republicans voted against the nomination.[8] Haynsworth was the first Supreme Court nominee to be defeated by the Senate since the rejection of Judge John J. Parker (also of the Fourth Circuit) in 1930. Nixon then nominated G. Harrold Carswell, who was also rejected by the Senate. Nixon eventually turned to Harry Blackmun, who was confirmed by the Senate.