Records & Rankings

Closest Supreme Court confirmation votes

The narrowest Senate roll-call margins on a confirmation to the Court. Voice votes (no recorded tally) are excluded.

#	Name	Detail	Vote
1	Stanley Matthews	Garfield (R), 1881	24–23
2	Brett M. Kavanaugh	Trump (R), 2018	50–48
3	Nathan Clifford	Buchanan (D), 1858	26–23
4	Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar	Cleveland (D), 1888	32–28
5	Clarence Thomas	Bush (R), 1991	52–48
6	Amy Coney Barrett	Trump (R), 2020	52–48
7	Ketanji Brown Jackson	Biden (D), 2022	53–47
8	Neil M. Gorsuch	Trump (R), 2017	54–45
9	John Catron	Jackson (D), 1837	28–15
10	Roger Brooke Taney	Jackson (D), 1836	29–15
11	Samuel A. Alito Jr.	Bush (R), 2006	58–42
12	Peter Vivian Daniel	Buren (D), 1841	22–5
13	Philip Pendleton Barbour	Jackson (D), 1836	30–11
14	Oliver Ellsworth	Washington, 1796	21–1
15	Melville Weston Fuller	Cleveland (D), 1888	41–20
16	Robert Trimble	Adams (N), 1826	27–5
17	Mahlon Pitney	Taft (R), 1912	50–26
18	Louis Dembitz Brandeis	Wilson (D), 1916	47–22
19	Elena Kagan	Obama (D), 2010	63–37
20	William Burnham Woods	Hayes (R), 1880	39–8
21	Sherman Minton	Truman (D), 1949	48–16
22	Noah Haynes Swayne	Lincoln (R), 1862	38–1
23	Joseph P. Bradley	Grant (R), 1870	46–9
24	Sonia Sotomayor	Obama (D), 2009	68–31
25	James Clark McReynolds	Wilson (D), 1914	44–6

Computed from the FJC Biographical Directory. Data last verified 2026-06-28. Verify against the primary source before relying.