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4 unusual facts about Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States


1929 World Series

Attending Game 1 was 9-year-old John Paul Stevens, who would grow up to become a Supreme Court Justice.

General Welfare clause

There, the Court agreed with Associate Justice Joseph Story's construction in Story's 1833 Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States.

Moreover, the Supreme Court held the understanding of the General Welfare Clause contained in the Taxing and Spending Clause adheres to the construction given it by Associate Justice Joseph Story in his 1833 Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States.

Undue burden standard

In a 7-to-1 ruling, Associate Justice Stanley Forman Reed fashioned an "undue burden" test to decide the constitutionality of a Virginia law requiring separate but equal racial segregation in public transportation.


Alford plea

Supreme Court Justice Byron White wrote the decision for the majority.

Baldwin-Reynolds House

It was built as a retirement home by Supreme Court Justice and congressman Henry Baldwin.

Bowman v. Monsanto Co.

Clarence Thomas, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, had formerly served as a lawyer for the Monsanto Corporation.

Daniel S. Schanck Observatory

The Schanck Observatory was dedicated on 18 June 1866 with an address given by Joseph P. Bradley (1813–1892), a Rutgers College alumnus (A.B. 1836) and prominent attorney who four years later was installed as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Democratic vice presidential nomination of 1944

Among the possible candidates were James F. Byrnes, Roosevelt's "assisting president," who initially was the prominent alternative, Associate Justice William O. Douglas, U.S. Senators Alben W. Barkley and Harry S. Truman as well as the Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn.

Dwight D. Eisenhower Supreme Court candidates

During his two terms in office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed five members of the Supreme Court of the United States: Chief Justice Earl Warren, and Associate Justices John Marshall Harlan, William Brennan, Charles Evans Whittaker, and Potter Stewart.

Fellowship of Humanity v. County of Alameda

This case was cited by Justice Hugo Black in the decision for Torcaso v. Watkins, in an obiter dictum listing "secular humanism" as being among "religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God."

Ford Hunger March

The mayor of Detroit was Frank Murphy, a liberal who later became Governor of Michigan and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Funeral and burial of Abraham Lincoln

Five relatives and family friends were officially appointed to accompany the funeral train: David Davis, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Lincoln's brothers-in-law, Ninian Wirt Edwards and C. M. Smith; Brigadier General John Blair Smith Todd, a cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln; and Charles Alexander Smith, the brother of C. M. Smith.

Gilbert S. Merritt, Jr.

When Supreme Court Associate Justice Byron White retired in 1993, Merritt was considered a potential nominee, along with Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt and Stephen Breyer of the First Circuit, who was eventually nominated by President Bill Clinton and subsequently joined the Court.

Harry S. Truman Supreme Court candidates

During his two terms in office, President Harry S. Truman appointed four members of the Supreme Court of the United States: Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, and Associate Justices Harold Burton, Tom C. Clark, and Sherman Minton.

Henry Brockholst Livingston

Henry Brockholst Livingston (November 25, 1757 – March 18, 1823) was an American Revolutionary War officer, a justice of the New York Court of Appeals and eventually an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Impeachment in the United States

Of these, 15 were federal judges: thirteen district court judges, one court of appeals judge (who also sat on the Commerce Court), and one Supreme Court Associate Justice.

Inter arma enim silent leges

In 2004, Justice Antonin Scalia used this phrase to decry the plurality decision in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld which in his view, upheld the detention of a U.S. citizen as an enemy combatant, without charge or suspension of the habeas corpus.

Irene Cortes

These views on "residual powers", similar to those expressed by U.S. Associate Justice Robert H. Jackson in his concurring opinion in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579 (1952), remain the subject of academic debate.

Martin v. Ziherl

The U.S. Supreme Court in Lawrence had stated that it was adopting the reasoning of Justice John Paul Stevens in his dissent to Bowers v. Hardwick, which Lawrence overruled.

Perry v. Louisiana

Following the murders, he fled the state, leaving behind a list of five other intended targets, including Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Olivia Newton-John.

Richard Bierschbach

Bierschbach was a law clerk for Judge A. Raymond Randolph of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice Sandra Day O'Connor of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Richard J. Leon

He received his Bachelor of Arts from the College of the Holy Cross (where he was a classmate of future Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas) in 1971.

Seattle Public Schools

Chief Justice Roberts wrote that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy filed a concurrence that presented a more narrow interpretation, stating that schools may use "race conscious" means to achieve diversity in schools but that the schools at issue in this case did not use a sufficient narrow tailoring of their plans to sustain their goals.

Smith Thompson

Smith Thompson (January 17, 1768 – December 18, 1843) was a United States Secretary of the Navy from 1818 to 1823, and a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice from 1823 until his death in 1843.

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Other board members included Harold Hitz Burton, mayor of Cleveland, Ohio and a future Supreme Court justice; Percival Brundage, senior partner in the Price Waterhouse and future budget director for President Dwight D. Eisenhower; Louise Wright, chairwoman of the voters department of government and foreign policy for the League of Women Voters.

United States v. Carmack

In an opinion by Associate Justice Harold Hitz Burton, the unanimous Court reaffirmed the concept of eminent domain, recognizing the power of the government to seize land according to the Condemnation Act and Public Buildings Act.

William A. Lynch

Lynch did not seek reelection in 1872, instead starting a private practice with William R. Day, the future Supreme Court justice.


see also

Charles McLean Andrews

He married Evangline Holcombe Walker; their daughter Ethel married John Marshall Harlan II, who became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1954.

Harold Burton

Harold Hitz Burton (1888–1964), mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, member of the United States Senate and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

J.P. Stevens

John Paul Stevens (born 1920) American Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Lewis Powell

Lewis F. Powell, Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States