Time before election for supreme court nominations

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg died today, less than 2 months from the election and 4 months from the inauguration. About 5 years ago when Justice Scalia died, Senate Majority Leader McConnell announced that he would accept no nominee to replace him due to the proximity of the election, 9 months later.

Between WWII and today, there has only been one Supreme Court seat made open nearer to the election than Scalia's.  It came when Sherman Minton retired in Oct, 1956, just a month before the 1956 election, for health reasons.   President Eisenhower quickly made a recess nomination of William Brennan.    Eisenhower chose Brennan substantially because he was a liberal democrat, to assure acceptance by the opposing party.  Ike was extremely popular and won that election in a 57.4 to 42 % landslide, with only 73 electoral college votes going to his opponent.  Nevertheless, hearings were deferred until two months after the inauguration, at which point Brennan was confirmed by acclimation.  He would go on to be a very popular justice.

The columns here are the name of the new justice, the name of the justice replaced, the date the new seat became open, and how many months prior to the subsequent inauguration that opening occurred.  

Kavanaugh  <-Kennedy 31 Oct 2018  27 months

Gorsuch <- Scalia 13 Feb 2016   12 Months

Kagan <- Stevens    29 Jun 2010  31 Months

Sotomayor <-Souter 29 Jun 2009 43 Months

Alito <- O'Connor 31 Jan 2006 36 Months

Roberts <- Rehnquist 3 Sep 2005 40 Months

Breyer <- Blackmun  3 Aug 1994 30 Months

Ginsberg <- White   28 Jun 1993  43 Months

Thomas <- Marshall 1 Oct 1991   16 Months

Souter <- Brennan  20 Jul 1990   30 Months

Kennedy <- Powell 26 Jul 1987   18 Months

Scalia <- Rehnquist 26 Sep 1986  28 Months

Rehnquist <- Burger 26 Sep 1986 28 Months

O'Connor <- Stewart 3 Jul 1981   43 Months

Stevens <- Douglas 12 Nov 1975 14 Months

Rehnquist <- Harlan 23 Sep 1971 16 Months

Powell <- Black 17 Sep 1971  16 Months

Blackmun <- Fortas 14 May 1969 45 Months

Burger <- Warren 23 Jun 1969 44 Months

Marshall <- Clark 12 Jun 1967 20 Months

Fortas <- Goldberg 25 Jul 1965 42 Months

Goldberg <- Frankfurter 28 Aug 1957 42 Months

White <- Whittaker 31 Mar 1962  34 Months

Stewart <- Burton 13 Oct 1958 28 Months

Whittaker <- Reed 25 Feb 1957 35 Months

Brennan <- Minton 15 Oct 1956 4 Months

Harlan <- Jackson 9 Oct 1954 28 Months

Warren <- Vinson 8 Sep 1953 39 Months

Minton <- Rutledge 10 Sep 1949 30 Months

Clark <- Murphy 19 Jul 1949 31 Months