Says John F. Kennedy said, "If a Supreme Court Justice died one day before the election, it would be more Constitutional to indefinitely postpone the election than postpone the confirmation a single day."
Stand up for the facts!
Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.
I would like to contribute
President John F. Kennedy is shown as he ends his official day after 7:30 pm with a final phone call to his press secretary from his Oval Office desk at the White House in Washington, D.C., March 16, 1961. (AP)
No evidence JFK suggested postponing an election indefinitely
If Your Time is short
- We found no evidence John F. Kennedy said this.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death has renewed a political fight over whether a justice should be appointed during a presidential election year.
According to social media posts, President John F. Kennedy weighed in on exactly this topic back in his day. "If a Supreme Court Justice died one day before the election, it would be more Constitutional to indefinitely postpone the election than postpone the confirmation a single day," reads a quote that appears over a photo of Kennedy speaking.
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)
Kennedy, who served as president from his inauguration in January 1961 until his assassination in November 1963, appointed two Supreme Court justices. Byron White, who took his judicial oath on April 16, 1962, and Arthur Goldberg, who took his oath on Oct. 1, 1962.
Featured Fact-check
Searching for the quote online, we didn’t find any results. There were no matches for the statement in the Nexis news archive, either.
Sign up for PolitiFact texts
There are no quotes about the Supreme Court in a selected list of quotations curated by the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.
An archivist at the library told us that they’re not familiar with the quote that appears in the Instagram post, and couldn’t find anything to corroborate the statement after checking several sources, including the library’s digitized archival holdings related to the Supreme Court and the federal judiciary; the American Presidency Project, which is a database of transcriptions of every public presidential statement; historical newspaper databases; and scholarly secondary sources.
We rate this Instagram post False.
Our Sources
Instagram post, Sept. 20, 2020
NPR, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, champion of gender equality, dies at 87, Sept. 18, 2020
Supreme Court, Justices 1789 to present, visited Sept. 21, 2020
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, John F. Kennedy quotations, visited Sept. 21, 2020
Email interview with Stacey Chandler, archivist, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, Sept. 21, 2020
Browse the Truth-O-Meter
More by Ciara O'Rourke
No evidence JFK suggested postponing an election indefinitely
Support independent fact-checking.
Become a member!
In a world of wild talk and fake news, help us stand up for the facts.