Harold Carswell

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George Harrold "Harrold" Carswell (December 22, 1919 – July 13, 1992) was a Federal Judge and an unsuccessful nominee to the United States Supreme Court.

Carswell was born in Irwinton, Georgia and graduated from Duke University in 1941 and briefly attended the University of Georgia School of Law. He joined the Navy and was discharged in 1945, and completed his law schooling at Walter F. George School of Law at Mercer University in 1948.

Carswell served as an attorney and eventually the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida. Carswell was nominated and confirmed to serve as a judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida in 1958. Carswell was then nominated by President Richard Nixon to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1969.

Nixon nominated Carswell to the Supreme Court on January 19, 1970 to replace Justice Abe Fortas. Carswell was praised by Senators such as Richard Russell; he was criticized for the high reversal rate (58%) of his decisions that were later appealed, and by civil-rights advocates for his judicial record and for his support for White supremacy, expressed in a speech he published in his newspaper, The Irwinton Bulletin, in 1948 while running for office in Georgia.

Carswell was rejected by the Senate on April 8, 1970 by a vote of 51-45. 17 Democrats and 28 Republicans voted for Carswell. 38 Democrats and 13 Republicans voted against him.

After this, Nixon nominated Harry Blackmun to fill the Fortas vacancy.

After his rejection, Carswell resigned from the Court of Appeals and unsuccessfully ran for the United States Senate in 1972, losing in the Republican Party primary by a large margin.

Carswell was arrested and convicted of battery, in 1976, for advances he made to an undercover police officer in a Florida men's room; some claim him as the first homosexual or bisexual nominated to the Supreme Court.

[edit] Quotations about Harrold Carswell

"Even if he is mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren't they?" - Roman Hruska in defense of Harold Carswell's nomination against charges that he was "mediocre"