Clement Haynsworth

Clement Furman Haynsworth Jr. (October 30, 1912 – November 22, 1989) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was also an unsuccessful nominee for the United States Supreme Court in 1969.

Education and career

Born on October 30, 1912, in Greenville, South Carolina, Haynsworth received an Artium Baccalaureus degree in 1933 from Furman University and a Bachelor of Laws in 1936 from Harvard Law School. He entered private practice in Greenville from 1936 to 1942. He served in the United States Navy from 1942 to 1945. He returned to private practice in Greenville from 1945 to 1957.

Federal judicial service

Haynsworth was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on February 19, 1957, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit vacated by Judge Armistead Mason Dobie. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 4, 1957, and received a commission the same day. He served as Chief Judge and a member of the Judicial Conference of the United States from 1964 to 1981. He assumed senior status on April 6, 1981, until his death on November 22, 1989, in Greenville, South Carolina.

Unsuccessful Supreme Court nomination

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. He was proposed to succeed associate justice Abe Fortas, who had resigned over conflict of interest charges.

Haynsworth was opposed by a coalition of Democrats (possibly in retaliation for the Republicans' rejection of Fortas as Chief Justice),

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. 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.

Honor

The Clement F. Haynsworth Jr. Federal Building in Greenville was renamed in his honor.