When Chief Justice Earl Warren announced in 1968 that he would retire on the condition that a replacement were chosen, Johnson picked Fortas. This selection of a crony offended even Democrats in the [[U.S. Senate]], and they refused to confirm him. Disclosure of how Fortas accepted a large outside lecture fee discredited Fortas further. Johnson withdrew the nomination.
In early 1969, Life magazine ran a shocking expose about how Fortas had received $20,000 and a promise of annual payments for the rest of his life, and payments to his wife after he died, by a wealthy person facing conviction for insider trading. This scandal resulted in calls for impeachment, and . Fortas resigned from the Court rather than be forcibly removedbench in 1969 but denied any wrongdoing.<sup>[http://www.oyez. org/justices/abe_fortas/]</sup> The law firm that he started, ''Arnold, Fortas and Porter'', refused to take him back and removed "Fortas" from its name.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fortas, Abe}}
[[Category:US Judges]]