100 Years Ago: Judge John H. Clarke

100 years ago today, July 14, 1916, President Woodrow Wilson nominated Ohio judge John H. Clarke to the United States Supreme Court to fill the vacancy created when Associate Justice Charles Evans Hughes resigned from the Court to accept the Republican nomination to run for president.

The United States Senate unanimously approved the Clarke nomination in just ten days.

Ten. Days.

Today, July 14, 2016, it has been 120 days since President Barack Obama officially nominated Judge Merrick Garland to the United States Supreme Court. The Court begins its Fall session in another 81 days from now. No confirmation hearings have been held, nor are any being planned, ostensibly because there's a presidential election in 117 days, and Republicans have decided that such things are simply not done in a democracy.

The nine-member Supreme Court in the Fall of election year 1916.