 G. Harrold Carswell was unsuccessfully nominated by Richard Nixon in 1970 , and was convicted in 1976 of battery for making an " unnatural and lascivious " advance to a male police officer working undercover in a Florida men 's room . Some therefore claim him as the only gay or bisexual person nominated to the Court thus far . If so , it is unlikely that Nixon was aware of it ; White House Counsel John Dean later wrote of Carswell that " [ w ] hile Richard Nixon was always looking for historical firsts , nominating a homosexual to the high court would not have been on his list " . 
