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On this day, February 13, 1892, Supreme Court justice Robert H. Jackson was born.
His opinions are regarded as among the best written ever. He was the last U.S. Supreme Court justice who did not have a law degree.
From West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette:
If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_13
• 1892 – Robert H. Jackson, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 57th United States Attorney General (d. 1954)
Robert H. Jackson
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office: July 11, 1941 – October 9, 1954
Nominated by: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: Harlan F. Stone
Succeeded by: John Marshall Harlan II
57th United States Attorney General
In office: January 18, 1940 – August 25, 1941
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: Frank Murphy
Succeeded by: Francis Biddle
24th United States Solicitor General
In office: March 5, 1938 – January 18, 1940
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: Stanley Forman Reed
Succeeded by: Francis Biddle
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division
In office: January 21, 1937 – March 4, 1938
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: John Lord O'Brian
Succeeded by: Thurman Arnold
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division
In office: February 26, 1936 – January 21, 1937
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: Frank J. Wideman
Succeeded by: James W. Morris
Assistant General Counsel for the Bureau of Internal Revenue
In office: February 1, 1934 – February 26, 1936
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: E. Barrett Prettyman
Succeeded by: Morrison Shafroth
Personal details
Born: Robert Houghwout Jackson; February 13, 1892; Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died: October 9, 1954 (aged 62); Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education: Albany Law School
Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1941 until his death in 1954. He had previously served as United States Solicitor General and United States Attorney General, and is the only person to have held all three of those offices. Jackson was also notable for his work as Chief United States Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals following World War II.
Jackson was the last U.S. Supreme Court justice who did not have a law degree. He was admitted to the bar via the older tradition of an internship under an established lawyer ( "reading law" ) after studying at Albany Law School for just a year. Jackson is well known for his advice that, "Any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect, in no uncertain terms, to make no statement to the police under any circumstances", and for his aphorism describing the Supreme Court, "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final."
Jackson developed a reputation as one of the best writers on the Supreme Court and one of the most committed to enforcing due process as protection from overreaching federal agencies. He was viewed as a moderate liberal and is known for his dissents in Terminiello v. City of Chicago, Zorach v. Clauson, Everson v. Board of Education, and Korematsu v. United States, as well as his majority opinion in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. Justice Antonin Scalia, who occupied the seat once held by Jackson, considered Jackson to be "the best legal stylist of the 20th century."
{snip}
U.S. Supreme Court, 1941–1954
On June 12, 1941, Roosevelt nominated Jackson as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy created when Harlan Fiske Stone replaced Charles Evans Hughes as chief justice. Jackson was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 7, 1941, and took the judicial oath of office on July 11, 1941. On the Court, he was known for his eloquent writing style and championing of individual liberties.
In 1943, Jackson wrote the majority opinion in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, which overturned a public school regulation making it mandatory to salute the flag, and imposing penalties of expulsion and prosecution upon students who failed to comply. Jackson's stirring language in Barnette concerning individual rights is widely quoted. Jackson's concurring opinion in 1952's Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (forbidding President Harry Truman's seizure of steel mills during the Korean War to avert a strike), in which Jackson formulated a three-tier test for evaluating claims of Presidential power, remains one of the most widely cited opinions in Supreme Court history.
{snip}
Korematsu v. United States
Main article: Korematsu v. United States
{snip}
Jackson's dissent
{snip}
{snip}
Death and legacy
On March 30, 1954, Jackson suffered a massive heart attack. He was confined to the hospital until May 17 when he returned to the Court. He remained functioning in his position as Justice until October 4, 1954. On Saturday, October 9, 1954, Jackson had another heart attack. At 11:45 a.m. he died at age 62. Funeral services were held in Washington's National Cathedral and later in Jamestown's St. Luke's Church. All eight of the other Supreme Court Justices traveled together to Jamestown, New York, to attend his funeral service; the last time, for security purposes, that the Supreme Court all traveled together. Other prominent guests included Thomas E. Dewey. He was interred near his boyhood home in Frewsburg, New York. His headstone reads "He kept the ancient landmarks and built the new."
Jackson was the last justice to die while in active service to the Court until Chief Justice Rehnquist's passing on September 3, 2005.
The Robert H. Jackson Center in Jackson's hometown of Jamestown, New York, offers guided tours to visitors who can see exhibits on Jackson's life, collections of his writings, and photos from the International Military Tribunal. An extensive collection of Jackson's personal and judicial papers is archived at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress and is open for research. Smaller collections are available at several other repositories.
There are statues dedicated to Jackson outside the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York, as well as the Robert H. Jackson field at the Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport. The United States District Court for the Western District of New York main courthouse, which is located in Buffalo and opened in November 2011, is dedicated to Jackson and is named the Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse.
{snip}
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
In office: July 11, 1941 – October 9, 1954
Nominated by: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: Harlan F. Stone
Succeeded by: John Marshall Harlan II
57th United States Attorney General
In office: January 18, 1940 – August 25, 1941
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: Frank Murphy
Succeeded by: Francis Biddle
24th United States Solicitor General
In office: March 5, 1938 – January 18, 1940
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: Stanley Forman Reed
Succeeded by: Francis Biddle
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division
In office: January 21, 1937 – March 4, 1938
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: John Lord O'Brian
Succeeded by: Thurman Arnold
United States Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division
In office: February 26, 1936 – January 21, 1937
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: Frank J. Wideman
Succeeded by: James W. Morris
Assistant General Counsel for the Bureau of Internal Revenue
In office: February 1, 1934 – February 26, 1936
President: Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by: E. Barrett Prettyman
Succeeded by: Morrison Shafroth
Personal details
Born: Robert Houghwout Jackson; February 13, 1892; Spring Creek, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died: October 9, 1954 (aged 62); Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education: Albany Law School
Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1941 until his death in 1954. He had previously served as United States Solicitor General and United States Attorney General, and is the only person to have held all three of those offices. Jackson was also notable for his work as Chief United States Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals following World War II.
Jackson was the last U.S. Supreme Court justice who did not have a law degree. He was admitted to the bar via the older tradition of an internship under an established lawyer ( "reading law" ) after studying at Albany Law School for just a year. Jackson is well known for his advice that, "Any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect, in no uncertain terms, to make no statement to the police under any circumstances", and for his aphorism describing the Supreme Court, "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final."
Jackson developed a reputation as one of the best writers on the Supreme Court and one of the most committed to enforcing due process as protection from overreaching federal agencies. He was viewed as a moderate liberal and is known for his dissents in Terminiello v. City of Chicago, Zorach v. Clauson, Everson v. Board of Education, and Korematsu v. United States, as well as his majority opinion in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. Justice Antonin Scalia, who occupied the seat once held by Jackson, considered Jackson to be "the best legal stylist of the 20th century."
{snip}
U.S. Supreme Court, 1941–1954
On June 12, 1941, Roosevelt nominated Jackson as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy created when Harlan Fiske Stone replaced Charles Evans Hughes as chief justice. Jackson was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 7, 1941, and took the judicial oath of office on July 11, 1941. On the Court, he was known for his eloquent writing style and championing of individual liberties.
In 1943, Jackson wrote the majority opinion in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, which overturned a public school regulation making it mandatory to salute the flag, and imposing penalties of expulsion and prosecution upon students who failed to comply. Jackson's stirring language in Barnette concerning individual rights is widely quoted. Jackson's concurring opinion in 1952's Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (forbidding President Harry Truman's seizure of steel mills during the Korean War to avert a strike), in which Jackson formulated a three-tier test for evaluating claims of Presidential power, remains one of the most widely cited opinions in Supreme Court history.
{snip}
Korematsu v. United States
Main article: Korematsu v. United States
{snip}
Jackson's dissent
{snip}
But once a judicial opinion rationalizes such an order to show that it conforms to the Constitution, or rather rationalizes the Constitution to show that the Constitution sanctions such an order, the Court for all time has validated the principles of racial discrimination in criminal procedure, and of transplanting American citizens. The principle then lies about like a loaded weapon, ready for the hand of any authority that can bring forward a plausible claim of an urgent need. Every repetition imbeds that principle more deeply in our law and thinking, and expands it to new purposes.
{snip}
Death and legacy
On March 30, 1954, Jackson suffered a massive heart attack. He was confined to the hospital until May 17 when he returned to the Court. He remained functioning in his position as Justice until October 4, 1954. On Saturday, October 9, 1954, Jackson had another heart attack. At 11:45 a.m. he died at age 62. Funeral services were held in Washington's National Cathedral and later in Jamestown's St. Luke's Church. All eight of the other Supreme Court Justices traveled together to Jamestown, New York, to attend his funeral service; the last time, for security purposes, that the Supreme Court all traveled together. Other prominent guests included Thomas E. Dewey. He was interred near his boyhood home in Frewsburg, New York. His headstone reads "He kept the ancient landmarks and built the new."
Jackson was the last justice to die while in active service to the Court until Chief Justice Rehnquist's passing on September 3, 2005.
The Robert H. Jackson Center in Jackson's hometown of Jamestown, New York, offers guided tours to visitors who can see exhibits on Jackson's life, collections of his writings, and photos from the International Military Tribunal. An extensive collection of Jackson's personal and judicial papers is archived at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress and is open for research. Smaller collections are available at several other repositories.
There are statues dedicated to Jackson outside the Robert H. Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York, as well as the Robert H. Jackson field at the Chautauqua County-Jamestown Airport. The United States District Court for the Western District of New York main courthouse, which is located in Buffalo and opened in November 2011, is dedicated to Jackson and is named the Robert H. Jackson United States Courthouse.
{snip}