The result was that when he was nominated by the President for the office of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he was rejected by the Senate.

A few Senators avowed as a pretext for their action that there was no Judge on that Bench from the South, and that the new appointee ought to reside in the Southern Circuit.
But these gentlemen all voted for the confirmation of Mr.
Justice Bradley, a most admirable appointment, to whom the same objection applied.

Judge Hoar never doubted that the service of a clean, able, upright Circuit Court, appointed without political influence, and entirely acceptable to the public, was well worth the sacrifice.

Indeed the expression of public regard which came to him abundantly in his lifetime, and which was manifested in the proceedings of the Bar of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Historical Society, and in the press of the country after his death, was more valued by those to whom his memory is dear, than a thousand offices.
When I entered Congress in 1869 the corridors of the Capitol and the Committee rooms were crowded with lobbyists.

The custom of the two Houses permitted their members to introduce strangers on the floor.