In fact who was the last senator to be appointed to the SCOTUS?
It doesn't have to be a Senator nor did I say it had to be. I just said I think a Senator wouldn't be filibustered by his colleagues, thus we would have a better chance of getting a conservative confirmed. Its been probably 50 years since a Senator has been nominated to the court.
It used to be very common in the 19th and early 20th century.
"In fact who was the last senator to be appointed to the SCOTUS?"
Ok, the last person to have served in the Senate to be appointed to the Supreme Court was Sherman Minton however he was not a sitting Senator at the time of his appointment. He was an appeals court judge. He was appointed by President Truman in 1949. The last sitting Senator to be appointed to the SC was Harold Burton. He was appointed by President Truman in 1945.
Hugo Black (1937-1971). By historical standards, there have been 5 distinct career paths to the SCOTUS, each about equally used until recent times.
As I recall they were:
politician
executive branch
private attorney
federal judge
I want to say the 5th was state court judge.
When Bork was rejected, several current and former US Senators names were bandied about. At the time it was thought that the Senate would not reject a former or sitting US Senator out of senatorial courtesy. I don't know if that feeling still exists on Capitol Hill.
A sitting US Senator nowadays would require enabling legislation to reduce the pay of the seat.