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Alex - actually the same year that Rehnquist was appointed, Lewis Powell was also appointed and had never been a judge - these were both in 1972.
Prior to that there were at least 30 others out of the total 99 that had never been a judge before taking the post on the Supreme Court so it is not unusual at all. Some notable Chief justices that were not judges before were Chief Justices John Marshall and Earl Warren.
Now you want controversy over appointments of friends - go back to LBJ when he appointed Abe Fortas - that was real cronyism and it was publicized so much that he resigned the court three years later.
This woman has some unusual things in her past that might make it a little difficult to pass the Senate even on the conservative side - as far as R v Wade - she refused to support the Texas bar Association's issuance of support for the decision back when the ruling happened originally. However she also donated money to Al Gores campaign (of course back then Texas was all democrat) back in 1988.
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