Parker, John Johnston

Parker, John Johnston (b. Monroe, N.C., 20 Nov. 1885; d. Washington, D.C., 17 Mar. 1958), federal appellate judge and unconfirmed nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. After practicing law for several years in North Carolina, Parker was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit, by President Calvin Coolidge in 1925. On 21 March 1930, President Herbert Hoover nominated Parker to replace Edward Sanford on the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate rejected Parker's nomination, 39 to 41, on 7 May 1930. He then continued to serve with distinction as a Fourth Circuit judge until his death in 1958. He was considered again for the Supreme Court by later presidents, but was never nominated.

Parker's defeat is an early example of the influence of interest groups on judicial nominations. An opinion affirming a decision upholding yellow dog contracts earned Parker the opposition of the American Federation of Labor. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People also opposed him, noting a statement he made in his 1920 gubernatorial campaign rejecting Negro participation in politics. Although Parker's defenders pointed out that he was merely responding to allegations that he intended to encourage such participation, the charges especially hurt Parker because his nomination followed by only a few months the controversial confirmation of Charles Evans Hughes, whom some senators had also opposed as too conservative. He continued to try to be a moderate on racial matters. In his decision for the Fourth Circuit implementing Brown v. Board of Education, he rejected “massive resistance” but narrowly construed the Supreme Court's decision: “The Constitution does not require integration … [but] merely forbids the use of governmental power to enforce segregation” (Briggs v. Elliott, 1954).

See also Nominations, Controversial; Nominees, Rejection of.

Susan M. Olson