Stuart A. Summit (April 18, 1936 - October 2021) was an American lawyer, a New York City official, and a federal judicial nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit whose nomination failed in 1988 due to unexpected opposition by a U.S. senator from his own party. Early life, education and professional career Summit earned a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University in 1957 and a law degree from Ohio State in 1959. While in law school, he was elected to the Order of the Coif. For 12 years, Summit helped two mayors of New York City select judicial appointees, and for another nine years he had screened candidates for the New York Supreme Court as part of his work for the State Commission on Judicial Nominations. Summit was a partner with the New York City law firm Phillips Nizer LLP in the latter part of his career. Failed nomination to the Second Circuit On September 23, 1987, toward the end of Ronald Reagan's presidency, Reagan nominated Summit to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to replace Irving Kaufman, who had taken senior status. Summit's name initially had been suggested by his former law partner, Arnold I. Burns, who had been a Deputy Attorney General at the time. And although the nomination of Summit, an active Republican, had not been thought to be particularly controversial, his nomination ultimately languished. Initially, Summit's ethics were challenged by a personal injury attorney in New York who once had faced Summit in court. Then, Burns, who had been Summit's biggest champion in the Justice Department, resigned from the Reagan administration amid a public quarrel with Attorney General Edwin Meese. Even so, Summit was unanimously approved by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on August 11, 1988, which should have placed his nomination on the fast track for confirmation. However, shortly after judiciary committee approval of Summit's nomination, an unknown senator had placed an anonymous "hold" on Summit's nomination, which blocked it indefinitely. Ultimately, it became public that the "hold" had been placed by New York's Republican Sen. Alphonse D'Amato, who had actually introduced Summit to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in April 1988. D'Amato's office never publicly explained the reason for its opposition to Summit's nomination. Summit told the Associated Press that he had made at least three telephone calls to D'Amato to find