Gerald Ford judicial appointment controversies Gerald Ford judicial appointment controversies During President Gerald Ford's presidency, he nominated two people for two different federal appellate judgeships who were not processed by the Democratic-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee before Ford's presidency ended. Neither of the two nominees was renominated by Ford's successor, President Jimmy Carter. Both nominees were nominated after July 1, 1976, the traditional start date of the unofficial Thurmond Rule during a presidential election year. Both seats eventually were filled by appointees of President Jimmy Carter. The two nominees were blocked in committee; no committee hearings ever were held for either one. According to an October
Gerald Rudolff Ford Company when he met the future President's mother Dorothy Ayer Gardner King. Dorothy had fled to Michigan from Omaha, Nebraska in 1913, 16 days after the President's birth, claiming that her husband (and her son's birth father), Leslie Lynch King, Sr., had physically abused her. She came to Grand Rapids to be near her parents, Levi Addison Gardner and Adele Augusta Ayer Gardner, who lived in the town. The couple married on February 1, 1917 following Dorothy's divorce from King when the future President was three and began calling Dorothy's first son "Gerald." Gerald Rudolff Ford and Dorothy Ford had