While we're all now familiar with the long process of Supreme Court justice hearings, it used to be a much simpler affair. In fact, before 1916, Supreme Court justice nominees were simply voted on by the Senate. The hearing process began when President Woodrow Wilson nominated Louis Brandeis, a successful lawyer who served as one of Wilson's aides, to the court. Brandeis was Jewish, and several members of the Senate were opposed to the nomination of a Jewish man. It took four months of hearings before Brandeis' nomination was confirmed.