Wreaths Across America: Saturday, Dec. 14

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U.S. Supreme Court

Chief Justices

Warren Earl Burger (1907–1995) — Warren Burger, the 15th chief justice of the United States, served on the Supreme Court for 17 years. Born in 1907 to a working-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger supported himself by selling life insurance while going to night school at the University of Minnesota. After earning his law degree from the St. Paul College of Law in 1931, he established a private practice in the Twin Cities area. He also became active in Minnesota's Republican Party. In 1953, Burger moved to Washington, D.C. to serve as Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Division. Two years later, President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated him to the U.S. Court of Appeals, where he became known as a conservative "law and order" judge. President Richard M. Nixon appointed Burger as chief justice of the Supreme Court in 1969. During Burger's tenure, he authored more than 250 decisions and oversaw landmark cases pertaining to capital punishment, school desegregation, abortion and criminal justice procedure. However, he is perhaps best known for authoring the unanimous opinion in United States v. Nixon (1974), which required President Nixon to surrender the White House tape recordings and papers that had been subpoenaed for use in his impeachment trial. Nixon resigned 16 days after the Court issued its decision.  Burger retired in 1986, in order to chair the Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution. He passed away on June 25, 1995, at the age of 87. (Section 5, Grave 7015-2) 

William H. Rehnquist, U.S. Army  (1924–2005) —  William Hubbs Rehnquist served on the U.S. Supreme Court for 33 years, first as an associate justice (1972 to 1986) and then as chief justice (1986 until his death in 2005). Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1924, Rehnquist grew up in a conservative, middle-class suburban family. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces, serving as a weather observer in North Africa. The G.I. Bill funded his education at Stanford University, from which he received a B.A. and an M.A. in political science. He went on to attend Stanford Law School, and then clerked for Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson. While practicing law in Phoenix, Arizona, Rehnquist achieved prominence in the Republican Party, campaigning for presidential candidate Barry Goldwater in the 1964 election. He joined the Justice Department under President Richard M. Nixon, serving as assistant attorney general of the Office of Legal Counsel from 1969 to 1971. When Supreme Court Justice Marshall Harlan retired in 1971, President Nixon selected Rehnquist as Harlan's replacement. A Democratic Senate overwhelmingly confirmed his nomination. On January 7, 1972, Rehnquist took his oath of office as an associate justice. Fourteen years later, President Ronald Reagan nominated him as chief justice, to replace the retiring Warren Burger. William H. Rehnquist's lengthy service on the Supreme Court allowed him to witness — and to influence — a dramatic transition in political ideology, from the liberalism of the Warren and Burger years to an era of more conservative jurisprudence. In his early days on the Court, Rehnquist often spoke out as the Court's lone dissenter against the expansion of federal power. As chief justice, however, Rehnquist occasionally ruled with his liberal colleagues (in decisions that protected gay rights and free speech, for example), and he earned widespread respect for his efficient management of court affairs and his encyclopedic knowledge of constitutional law. (Section 5, Grave 7049-LH)

William Howard Taft (1857–1930) — President William Howard Taft (1857-1930), the 27th president of the United States, was the first president to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery, and one of only two presidents buried here. (The other is John F. Kennedy.) Taft is the only person to have served both as president of the United States (1909-1913) and as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1921-1930). After his death on March 8, 1930, Taft lay in state at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda for three days prior to his burial at Arlington. The Taft family selected a large plot in Section 30 of the cemetery, which at the time was relatively undeveloped. Taft requested a simple ceremony with no eulogies, insisting instead upon poetry by Wadsworth and Tennyson. His burial service, too, was simple, although an elaborate procession from the Capitol preceded it, with a funeral escort provided by the 3rd Infanty Regiment. Click here to read more about Taft. (Section 30, Grave S-14) 

Earl Warren (1891–1974) — The son of Scandinavian immigrants, Earl Warren was born in Los Angeles, California in 1891. After receiving both his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, he began his legal career as a clerk for the judiciary committee of the California state assembly. Appointed district attorney of Alameda County in 1925, Warren steadily gained influence in the California Republican Party. He won election as state attorney general in 1938, and as governor of California in 1942. Re-elected twice, Warren served as California's governor from 1943 to 1953, a decade of tremendous growth for the state. He ran for national office twice, but lost both times: in 1942, running on the Republican ticket as Thomas E. Dewey's vice presidential candidate, and in 1952 as a presidential candidate himself. In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower named Earl Warren as Chief Justice of the United States, a position that he held for 16 years. The "Warren Court" issued major reinterpretations of U.S. constitutional law. Its landmark cases included Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), which declared unconstitutional racial segregation in public schools. Justice Warren also led the Warren Commission, which investigated the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He retired in 1969. (Section 21, Grave S-32) 

 


Associate Justices

Hugo L. Black, U.S. Army (1886–1971) —  Hugo Lafayette Black was born in 1886 in rural Harlan, Alabama. An excellent student, he initially enrolled in medical school, but soon transferred to the University of Alabama Law School, graduating in 1906 as the youngest student in his class. During the early years of his career, he served as a police court judge, often representing poor rural clients. In 1914, he was elected as a county prosecutor, beginning a political career (briefly interrupted by U.S. Army service during World War I) that would culminate in his election to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 1926. Representing Alabama for two terms (12 years), Senator Black strongly supported President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal — he sponsored the bill that became the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 — and earned a reputation as a government reformer. In August 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated Black to serve as an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. Black's nomination proved controversial, in part due to his former membership in the Ku Klux Klan (which Roosevelt had not known about). Black had joined the Klan in 1923, as he prepared to run for the Senate. During the mid-1920s, the KKK's membership had grown dramatically, peaking at around five million. However, Black came to believe that affiliation with the Klan would ultimately harm rather than help his political career, and he resigned from the organization in 1925. Black's KKK membership did not prevent the Senate from ratifying his nomination to the Supreme Court, but it would remain controversial throughout his career. During his years on the court, Black reportedly always carried a copy of the United States Constitution in his pocket. He became known as a Constitutional literalist, or "textualist," basing his legal opinions on the text of the Constitution. He also advocated judicial restraint, believing that law should be made by legislatures, not the judiciary. A First Amendment absolutist, Black wrote important opinions on free speech, freedom of the press, and the separation of church and state. Following a stroke, Hugo Black retired from the Supreme Court on September 17, 1971. He passed away eight days later. (Section 30, Grave 649-LH)

Harry A. Blackmun (1908–1999) — Nominated to the Supreme Court after President Richard M. Nixon's first two choices were rejected by the Senate, Justice Harry Blackmun reportedly said that being picked third kept him humble. He was recommended to the president by Chief Justice Warren Burger, a childhood friend, after serving on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals for 11 years. Prior to that, his career had included nine years as resident counsel for the Mayo Clinic, reflecting his early interest in medicine. Blackmun is best known as the author of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which extended the right of privacy in reproductive matters, prohibiting many restrictions on abortion. Later in his career, an increasingly conservative court often left Blackmun in the minority. For example, he was the sole dissenter in a 1993 ruling that the U.S. could intercept Haitian refugees and forcibly return them to their country without a hearing. By the time he retired in August 1994, Blackmun was viewed as the most liberal member of the Supreme Court. In 1997, he played Justice Joseph Story in the film "Amistad," becoming the first Supreme Court justice to appear in a motion picture. (Section 5, Grave 40-4) 

William J. Brennan Jr., U.S. Army (1906–1997) — One of the most influential members of the Warren Court, Justice William Brennan authored 1,360 opinions during his 34 years on the U.S. Supreme Court. The namesake of his Irish immigrant father, Brennan grew up in Newark, New Jersey and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School. He practiced law in Newark until enlisting in the Army as a major in 1942. He rose to the rank of colonel, handling labor disputes while serving on the staff of the secretary of war.  After World War II, Brennan returned to his Newark practice, specializing in labor law, but accepted an appointment to a state court in 1949. Three years later, New Jersey's governor appointed him to the state Supreme Court. President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave him a recess appointment to the Supreme Court in 1956. Brennan's many influential decisions expanded the rights of racial minorities and women and strengthened protections for free speech and other individual rights. According to Chief Justice Earl Warren, "it would be difficult to name another Justice who wrote more important opinions in his first ten years." Although he was an outspoken liberal, Brennan was also known for his consensus building and willingness to compromise. Following a debilitating stroke, Brennan retired in July 1990. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1993. (Section 5, Grave 40-1) 

William O. Douglas (1898–1980) — Serving for 36 years and seven months, Justice William O. Douglas holds the record for longest continuous tenure on the Supreme Court. After graduating from Columbia Law School, Douglas spent the early years of his career at prestigious Wall Street firm Cravath, Henderson and de Gersdorff (now Cravath, Swaine and Moore). He also taught law at Columbia and Yale, becoming one of Yale Law School's youngest chaired professors. A committed supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, in 1934 he left Yale to join the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), becoming SEC chairman three years later. In 1939, President Roosevelt nominated Douglas to the Supreme Court. Replacing renowned Justice Louis D. Brandeis, he was Brandeis's personal choice for a successor — and, sworn in at the age of 40, one of the youngest Supreme Court justices in U.S. history. A committed civil libertarian, Douglas fiercely advocated for rights to free speech and privacy. Consistent with his background as a New Dealer, he also supported the regulation of business through antitrust law and labor law. (Section 5, Grave 7004-B-1) 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020) — The first Jewish woman appointed to the Supreme Court, and the second female justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–2020) served on the nation’s highest court from August 10, 1993 until her death from metastatic pancreatic cancer on September 18, 2020. She is buried alongside her husband Martin, an Army veteran and distinguished tax attorney. Born in Brooklyn, New York, to working-class Jewish parents (her father immigrated from Russia as a child, and her mother was the daughter of Polish immigrants), Ginsburg attended Cornell University, Harvard Law School and Columbia Law School, graduating first in her class from the latter in 1959. Prior to her appointment on the Supreme Court, she taught law at Rutgers University and Columbia University (where she became the first female law professor to earn tenure); co-founded and directed the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Women’s Rights Project, winning five of six cases that she argued before the Supreme Court; and served on the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia. Described by Chief Justice John Roberts as “a tireless and resolute champion of justice,” Ginsburg steadfastly advocated for the equal rights of all U.S. citizens regardless of gender, race or religion—informed, in part, by her personal experiences with discrimination throughout her career. As the Court became increasingly conservative, Ginsburg became known for her forceful dissenting opinions, often articulated in impassioned oral arguments. “The Notorious RBG” — as supporters affectionately dubbed her — eventually became a feminist icon who inspired multiple generations of Americans. Click here to read more about Ginsburg's life and legacy. (Section 5, Grave 7061-1) 

Arthur J. Goldberg, U.S. Army (1908–1990) — Arthur Joseph Goldberg, the youngest of eight children, was born in Chicago to Russian immigrant parents in 1898. He became interested in legal matters at an early age, and received his bachelor's and juris doctor degrees from Northwestern University. Goldberg began his legal career in 1929 as an associate at a large Chicago firm, but he opened his own practice in 1933, wanting to advocate for working Americans. In 1938, on behalf of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), Goldberg represented Chicago newspaper employees who were striking for higher wages and better working conditions. For eight months, Goldberg represented the strikers without charge. In the end, the newspapers recognized the union. During World War II, Goldberg served as a captain and major in the U.S. Army. He also served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the precursor to the CIA. As chief of the OSS's Labor Desk, he established contacts with underground labor organizations in Europe.  After the war, Goldberg became a prominent labor lawyer, serving as general counsel for the CIO and the United Steelworkers of America. In 1955, he advised the merger of the American Federation of Labor and the CIO into the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest union. President John F. Kennedy appointed Goldberg first as secretary of labor (1961-1962) and then as associate justice of the Supreme Court. Although his time on the Court was brief (October 1, 1962 to July 25, 1965), he issued influential opinions on the death penalty and the right of privacy. In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson persuaded Goldberg to resign in order to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a position that he held until 1968. During the later years of his career, he practiced law in New York and Washington, D.C., ran unsuccessfully for governor of New York in 1970 and served as U.S. ambassador to the Belgrade Conference on Human Rights in 1977. (Section 21, Grave S-35) 

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., U.S. Army (1841–1935) — Born to an elite Boston family, Oliver Wendell Holmes was named after his father, a renowned writer and physician. After graduating from Harvard College, he served as an officer in the Massachusetts Twentieth Volunteers during the Civil War, and then returned to Harvard to study law. As a lawyer, he practiced at Boston firms for 15 years, edited the American Law Review and taught law at his alma mater. In 1881, his book "The Common Law" confirmed that Holmes, at only 40 years old, had emerged as one of the most eminent legal philosophers in the United States. In 1882, Holmes received both an endowed chair at Harvard Law School and an appointment to the Massachusetts Supreme Court. He remained on the state court for 20 years, serving the last three as chief justice. In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt nominated him for the Supreme Court of the United States. Serving on the Supreme Court for more than 29 years, Holmes became one of the most influential judges in U.S. history, who is still widely cited today. He earned his nickname "The Great Dissenter" not because he dissented frequently from the Court's majority opinion, but because his dissenting opinions were so forceful and persuasive. A committed defender of the First Amendment, Holmes is known for the "clear and present danger" doctrine, which held that the U.S. government could restrict speech only when it posed a "clear and present danger" to the national interest. After 29 years of service on the bench, Justice Holmes retired in 1932 at the age of 90, making him the oldest justice to have served on the Supreme Court of the United States. He died in Washington, D.C. on March 6, 1935, two days before his 94th birthday. (Section 5, Grave 7004-A)

Thurgood Marshall (1908–1993) —  Appointed by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967, Thurgood Marshall was the first Black Supreme Court justice, and the only Black justice during his 24-year tenure. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Marshall attended segregated public schools and experienced racism firsthand. Rejected from the University of Maryland School of Law due to his race, Marshall attended Howard University Law School, graduating first in his class in 1933. After graduation, Marshall began practicing law in his hometown of Baltimore. In his first major court victory, in 1935 he successfully sued the University of Maryland Law School for denying admission to a black applicant on the grounds of race. In 1940, he founded and served as executive director of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. In that position, he argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court — including Brown v. Board of Education (1954), which held that the racial segregation of public schools violated the Constitution. Marshall won 29 of the 32 cases that he argued before the Supreme Court. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Marshall to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and in 1965 President Johnson appointed him as Solicitor General — making him, at the time, the highest-ranking Black government official in U.S. history. On the Supreme Court, Marshall consistently defended the constitutional protection of individual rights, including the rights of criminal defendants. He also continued advocating for the civil rights of African Americans and other minorities. He famously described his legal philosophy as, "You do what you think is right, and the law will catch up." Marshall's clerks included current Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan and such renowned law professors as Cass Sunstein and Randall L. Kennedy. (Section 5, Grave 40-3) 

John Paul Stevens, U.S. Navy (1920–2019) — John Paul Stevens (1920-2019), who passed away at the age of 99 on July 16, 2019, was the longest-lived Supreme Court justice. He was also the third longest-serving justice, with 34 and a half years on the nation's highest court (December 1975 to June 2010). Stevens was born in 1920 to a wealthy Chicago family, whose businesses included what was, at the time, the world's largest hotel. In 1933, however, Stevens' father, grandfather and uncle were indicted for embezzlement; although his father's conviction was eventually overturned, the family lost much of their fortune, including the Stevens Hotel, during the Depression. After graduating from the University of Chicago, Stevens joined the U.S. Navy on December 6, 1941 — the day before Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. Commissioned as a signals intelligence officer, he was stationed at Pearl Harbor through the end of World War II. He received a Bronze Star for his work on breaking Japanese codes. The GI Bill enabled Stevens to attend Northwestern University School of Law, from which he graduated first in the class of 1947. He briefly clerked for Supreme Court Justice Wiley Blount Rutledge, and then went into private practice in Chicago, specializing in antitrust law. He co-founded the firm of Rothschild, Stevens, Barry & Myers, where he practiced until 1970, when President Richard M. Nixon appointed him to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. In 1975, President Gerald Ford nominated Stevens to the Supreme Court, to replace the retiring Justice William O. Douglas. The Senate confirmed him unanimously. Appointed by a Republican president, Stevens joined the court as a moderate conservative. By the time of his retirement in 2010, however, he was considered one of the more liberal justices. In part, this reflected the Court's overall more conservative leanings after the appointments of the Reagan and Bush administrations. But Stevens also attributed his gradual changes in opinion, notably on cases involving the death penalty and the rights of disenfranchised groups, to "learning on the job." In general, Stevens was not ideological, preferring to be guided by the facts of a case rather than by doctrine. He was also known for his unfailing courtesy toward others — and for his stylish bow ties. In his retirement, Stevens wrote prolifically, authoring frequent editorials and three books: "Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir" (2011), "Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution" (2014) and "The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years" (2019). In 2012, President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor. (Section 5, Grave 7015-4)

Potter Stewart, U.S. Navy (1915–1985) —  Potter Stewart came from an influential Ohio Republican political family and graduated from Yale College and Yale Law School. He briefly worked for a Wall Street law firm before entering the U.S. Navy Reserve during World War II, serving aboard oil tankers and acting as defense counsel in court martial proceedings. After the war, he practiced with a prominent law firm in Cincinnati. Entering politics in 1949, he served as a member of the Cincinnati City Council from 1950 to 1953, and was elected as the city's vice mayor in 1952. From 1954 to 1958, Stewart served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, having been appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. President Eisenhower nominated Stewart for the Supreme Court in an October 1958 recess appointment. During his 22 years on an ideologically divided court, Stewart was a centrist who acted as an important swing vote in such landmark cases as Roe v. Wade (1973), which guaranteed a woman's right to have an abortion, and Gregg v. Georgia (1976), which restored capital punishment in the United States. Stewart retired in 1981 at only 66 years old, in order to spend more time with his children and grandchildren. He continued to serve on various courts of appeals and national commissions, including the National Bipartisan Commission on Central America and the President's Commission on Organized Crime. (Section 5, 40-2)