There have been five presidents who assumed the office after having lost the popular vote. Between them, they nominated 12 justices who ended up serving on the Supreme Court. On Saturday, with President Trump’s nomination of Brett M. Kavanaugh, poised to pass the Senate, the number will climb to 13.
Kavanaugh, though, has a distinct honor: He will be the first justice nominated by someone who lost the popular vote, earning his seat on the bench with support from senators representing less than half of the country and whose nomination was opposed by a majority of the country.
Let’s walk through it.
Obviously, Trump got almost 3 million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Clinton got about 48 percent of the votes cast for president. Trump got about 46 percent.
