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11 unusual facts about Earl Warren


Alexander Bickel

In his books The Supreme Court and the Idea of Progress and The Morality of Consent, Bickel attacked the Warren Court for what he saw as its misuse of history, shoddy reasoning, and sometimes arbitrary results.

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.

Flag of California

In 1953, the design and specifications for the state flag were standardized in a bill signed by Governor Earl Warren.

Ideological leanings of U.S. Supreme Court justices

President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren to be Chief Justice in 1953, and both graphs indicate that the Court then turned in a more liberal direction as Warren grew substantially more liberal and especially when he was joined by strong liberal justices William Brennan, Arthur Goldberg, Abe Fortas, and Thurgood Marshall (though Justices Black and Felix Frankfurter became more conservative over time).

John F. Kennedy Supreme Court candidates

Robert F. Kennedy said "it would mean so much overseas that we had a Negro on the Supreme Court." However, Hastie was opposed by Chief Justice Earl Warren, who balked because "he's not a liberal and he'll be opposed to all measures we are interested in, and he would be completely unsatisfactory." Associate Justice William O. Douglas also objected to Hastie as the nominee.

Kenneth and Mamie Clark

Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote in the Brown vs. Board opinion, "To separate them from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone".

Lyndon B. Johnson Supreme Court candidates

Former Justice Arthur Goldberg later claimed that he was Earl Warren's preference to succeed him.

When Chief Justice Earl Warren announced his retirement in June 1968, Johnson nominated Associate Justice Fortas to replace Warren as Chief Justice, and nominated Homer Thornberry (whom Johnson had previously appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in 1965) to the Associate Justice seat that Fortas would be vacating.

McKinley Burnett

Chief Justice Earl Warren delivered the ruling of the Supreme Court: “We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of ‘separate but equal’ has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal.”

Pennsylvania v. Nelson

The Case was argued in front of the Warren Court whose members were: Earl Warren; Hugo Black; Stanley Reed; Felix Frankfurter; William O. Douglas; Harold Burton; Tom C. Clark; Sherman Minton; and John Marshall Harlan II.

Zemel v. Rusk

Chief Justice Earl Warren, writing for the majority, held that the three-judge trial court was properly convened and that the Court therefore had jurisdiction over the appeal, citing Idlewild Liquor Corp. v. Epstein, 370 U. S. 713.


C. J. Goodell

On January 2, 1945, Governor Earl Warren appointed Goodell an Associate Justice of the District Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, Division Two in place of Homer R. Spence who was elevated to the California Supreme Court on the same day.

California School for the Deaf, Riverside

On March 26, 1946, California assembly bill 75 was signed by Governor Earl Warren, future United States Supreme Court Chief Justice, authorizing appropriations to establish the Southern California School for the Deaf, later renamed the California School for the Deaf, Riverside.

California State Route 13

The route currently begins at Interstate 580 near Mills College in East Oakland and continues north as the Warren Freeway, named after former Alameda County District Attorney, California Governor and U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren.

Gideon's Trumpet

A made-for-TV movie based on the book was released in 1980, starring Henry Fonda as Clarence Earl Gideon, José Ferrer as Abe Fortas and John Houseman as Earl Warren (though Warren's name was never mentioned in the film; he was billed simply as "The Chief Justice").

John T. Fey

John T. Fey served as Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1956 to 1958, during the Chief Justiceship of Earl Warren.

King assassination riots

These included federal justices Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall, and Leon Higginbotham; government officials such as secretary Robert Weaver and D.C. Mayor Walter Washington; legislators Mike Mansfield, Hubert Humphrey (who was the vice president), Everett Dirksen, William McCulloch; and civil rights leaders Whitney Young, Roy Wilkins, Clarence Mitchell, Dorothy Height, and Walter Fauntroy.

Lincoln Catafalque

The catafalque has also been used six times in the Supreme Court Building, for the lying in state of former Chief Justice Earl Warren on July 11–12, 1974; former Justice Thurgood Marshall, January 27, 1993; former Chief Justice Warren Earl Burger, June 28, 1995; former Justice William J. Brennan, Jr., July 28, 1997; Justice Harry A. Blackmun, March 8, 1999, and Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist on September 6–7, 2005.

MANual Enterprises v. Day

Justice William Brennan, joined by Chief Justice Earl Warren and Justice William O. Douglas, concurred but would have decided the case on much narrower technical rather than First Amendment grounds.

Marco Antonio Firebaugh High School

He received the honor of having a school named after him while alive; other examples include Earl Warren, for which Warren High School in Downey, California was originally named, and John Glenn, for which John Glenn High School in Norwalk, California was named.