Supreme Court

Roscoe Conkling, the Political Boss Who Twice Declined a Supreme Court Appointment

The Republican stalwart thought he could wield more power from the Senate than he ever could from the Supreme Court.

Damon Root | 3.19.2026 7:00 AM

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It was May 7, 1873, and President Ulysses S. Grant had a big job opening that he needed to fill and soon. Salmon P. Chase, the great antislavery lawyer who had been appointed chief justice of the United States by President Abraham Lincoln, had just died at his home in Washington, D.C., after suffering what was probably a stroke. That left a vacancy atop the highest court in the land. Who would Grant pick to fill it?

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Roscoe Conkling was a U.S. senator from New York and the undisputed boss of........

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