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
Vice President of the United States voted to acknowledge him as President, setting a momentous precedent for an orderly transfer of presidential power following a president's death, one made explicit by Section 1 of the Twenty-fifth Amendment in 1967. In total, nine vice presidents have succeeded to the presidency intra-term. In addition to Tyler, they are Millard Fillmore, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, Theodore Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry S. Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Gerald Ford. Even after the precedent regarding presidential succession following a president's death was set, there remained ambiguity in the Article II succession clause regarding a disabled president. What constituted an "inability"?