https://wiki.sarg.dev/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=2601%3A410%3A4300%3A4070%3A17D2%3AAD76%3A94B1%3A7FB5Vero - Wikipedia - User contributions [en]2026-08-14T18:48:51ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.44.2https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Charles_Evans_Whittaker&diff=416196Charles Evans Whittaker2025-08-09T02:52:19Z<p>2601:410:4300:4070:17D2:AD76:94B1:7FB5: </p>
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<div>{{Short description|US Supreme Court justice from 1957 to 1962}}<br />
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2011}}<br />
{{Infobox judge<br />
| honorific-prefix =<br />
| name = Charles Evans Whittaker<br />
| honorific-suffix =<br />
| image = Charles Whittaker.jpg<br />
| alt =<br />
| caption = Whittaker, {{circa|1956}}<br />
| office = [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]<br />
| term_start = March 25, 1957<!--Term start date as per www.supremecourt.gov, reflects date oath taken--><br />
| term_end = March 31, 1962<br />
| nominator = [[List of federal judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight D. Eisenhower]]<br />
| predecessor = [[Stanley Forman Reed]]<br />
| successor = [[Byron White]]<br />
| office1 = Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]]<br />
| term_start1 = June 5, 1956<br />
| term_end1 = March 24, 1957<!--Termination date per FJC Bio, reflects oath date at Supreme Court.--><br />
| nominator1 = [[List of federal judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight D. Eisenhower]]<br />
| predecessor1 = [[John Caskie Collet]]<br />
| successor1 = [[Marion Charles Matthes]]<br />
| office2 = Judge of the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri]]<br />
| term_start2 = July 8, 1954<br />
| term_end2 = June 21, 1956<!--Termination date per FJC Bio, reflects oath date at Eighth Circuit.--><br />
| nominator2 = [[List of federal judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower|Dwight D. Eisenhower]]<br />
| predecessor2 = [[Albert L. Reeves]]<br />
| successor2 = [[Randle Jasper Smith]]<br />
| pronunciation =<br />
| birth_name = Charles Evans Whittaker<br />
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1901|02|22}}<br />
| birth_place = [[Troy, Kansas|Troy]], [[Kansas]], U.S.<br />
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1973|11|26|1901|02|11}}<br />
| death_place = [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Missouri]], U.S. <br />
| death_cause =<br />
| resting_place =<br />
| party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]<br />
| spouse = {{marriage|Winifred Pugh|1928}}<br />
| children = 3<br />
| residence =<br />
| education = [[University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law|Kansas City School of Law]] ([[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])<br />
<!--Embedded templates / Footnotes--><br />
| footnotes =<br />
}}<br />
<br />
'''Charles Evans Whittaker''' (February 22, 1901 – November 26, 1973) was an [[Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court]] from 1957 to 1962. After working in private practice in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Missouri]], he was nominated for the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri]]. In 1956, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] nominated Whittaker to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]]. In 1957, he won confirmation to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]], thus becoming the first individual to serve as a judge on a federal district court, a federal court of appeals, and the United States Supreme Court. During his brief tenure on the [[Warren Court]], Whittaker emerged as a swing vote. In 1962, he had a [[nervous breakdown]] and resigned from the Court. After leaving the Supreme Court, he served as chief counsel to [[General Motors]] and frequently criticized the [[Civil Rights Movement]] and the [[Warren Court]].<br />
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==Early years and career==<br />
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Whittaker was born on a farm near [[Troy, Kansas|Troy]], [[Kansas]] to Charles Edward Whittaker, a farmer, and Ida Eve Miller, a schoolteacher from [[Hagerstown, Maryland|Hagerstown]], [[Maryland]]. He attended the nearby one-room Brush Creek School, and then the [[Troy High School (Kansas)|Troy High School]] until he dropped out in the ninth grade after his mother died on his sixteenth birthday. He spent the next three years working on a family farm, and also hunting and trapping. Whittaker developed an interest in law by reading newspaper articles about criminal trials. In the summer of 1920, he applied to the part-time evening program at the Kansas City School of Law (currently the [[University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law]]) and gained admission with the condition that he would finish his high school education after personally pleading with Oliver Dean, the president of the law school. He immediately enrolled at Manual High School in [[Kansas City, Missouri|Kansas City]], [[Missouri]] and spent the next four years working during the day to support himself, while taking high school and law school courses in the evenings. Whittaker's law school classmates included future President [[Harry S. Truman]]. Whittaker graduated in the class of 1924 with a [[Bachelor of Laws]] having been admitted to the Missouri bar during his senior year.<ref name="Smith">Smith, Craig A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=tjhMk0tEMxkC&q=Watson%2C+Gage%2C+Ess%2C+Groner+&pg=PA15 ''Failing Justice: Charles Evans Whittaker on the Supreme Court.''] Jefferson, N.C: McFarland & Company, 2005.</ref><ref name='fedjudcenter'>{{Cite web |url=https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/whittaker-charles-evans |title=Whittaker, Charles Evans &#124; Federal Judicial Center |access-date=November 9, 2018 |archive-date=November 9, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181109111935/https://www.fjc.gov/history/judges/whittaker-charles-evans |url-status=live }}</ref> Whittaker joined the law firm of Watson, Ess, Marshall & Enggas in Kansas City, Missouri, where he previously worked full-time as an office boy, and built up a practice in [[corporate law]] with the [[Union Pacific Railroad]], [[Montgomery Ward]], and the City National Bank and Trust Company among his clients. He was a member of [[Tau Kappa Epsilon]] fraternity and developed close ties to the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Distinguished Alumni |url=https://www.tke.org/about/distinguished-alumni |publisher=[[Tau Kappa Epsilon]] |access-date=November 11, 2023}}</ref><br />
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==Federal judicial service (District Court and Court of Appeals)==<br />
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Whittaker was nominated by President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] on May 11, 1954, to a seat on the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri]] vacated by Judge [[Albert L. Reeves]]. He was confirmed by the [[United States Senate]] on July 7, 1954, and received his commission the next day. His service terminated on June 21, 1956, due to his elevation to the Eighth Circuit.<ref name='fedjudcenter'/><br />
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Whittaker was nominated by President Eisenhower on March 16, 1956, to a seat on the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]] vacated by Judge [[John Caskie Collet]]. He was confirmed by the Senate on June 4, 1956, and received his commission the next day. His service terminated on March 24, 1957, due to his elevation to the [[Supreme Court of the United States]].<ref name='fedjudcenter'/><br />
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==Supreme Court==<br />
Whittaker was nominated by President Eisenhower on March 2, 1957, as an [[Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States|associate justice]] of the Supreme Court, to succeed [[Stanley Forman Reed]]. He was confirmed by the Senate on March 19, 1957, by a unanimous vote.<ref name=SCnominations>{{cite web| title=Supreme Court Nominations (1789-Present)| url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/nominations/SupremeCourtNominations1789present.htm| publisher=United States Senate| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 16, 2022}}</ref> Whittaker took the judicial oath of office on March 25, 1957.<ref name=SCOTUSjustices>{{cite web| url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members_text.aspx| title= Justices 1789 to Present| publisher=Supreme Court of the United States| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 16, 2022}}</ref> He thus became the first person to serve as a judge of a [[United States District Court]], a [[United States Court of Appeals]], and the Supreme Court of the United States. [[Samuel Blatchford]] also served at all three levels of the federal judiciary, but the court system was configured slightly differently at that time. Whittaker served as Circuit Justice of the Eighth Circuit and the Tenth Circuit for his duration of service on the Supreme Court.<br />
[[File:President John F. Kennedy Attends Swearing-in Ceremony of Fowler Hamilton, Administrator of the Agency for International Development (AID) (AR6815-B).jpg|left|thumb|Whittaker (center), in 1961]]<br />
On the closely divided Supreme Court, Whittaker was a swing vote. According to Professor Howard Ball, Whittaker was an "extremely weak, vacillating justice" who was "courted by the two cliques on the Court because his vote was generally up in the air and typically went to the group that made the last, but not necessarily the best, argument."<ref>Ball, Howard. ''Hugo L. Black: Cold Steel Warrior,'' Oxford University Press. 2006. {{ISBN|0-19-507814-4}}. Page 126.</ref> Whittaker failed to develop a consistent judicial philosophy and reportedly felt himself not as qualified as some of the other members of the Court. After agonizing deeply for months over his vote in ''[[Baker v. Carr]]'', a landmark [[reapportionment]] case, Whittaker suffered a [[nervous breakdown]] in the spring of 1962. At the behest of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]], Whittaker recused himself from the case and retired from the Court effective March 31, 1962 due to a certified disability, citing exhaustion from the heavy workload and stress.<ref name="gazette">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3c1RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=I2wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7128,4349997&dq=charles+whittaker+retire&hl=en "Whittaker is leaving U.S. Supreme Court"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308171147/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3c1RAAAAIBAJ&sjid=I2wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7128,4349997&dq=charles+whittaker+retire&hl=en |date=March 8, 2021 }}, ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,'' 30 March 1962</ref><br />
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As of 2025, Whittaker remains the only Supreme Court Justice appointed from Missouri. He is also the most recently appointed Justice to have received [[List of law schools attended by United States Supreme Court justices|his legal education]] from [[List of law schools in the United States|a public law school]].<br />
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==Final years==<br />
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Effective September 30, 1965, Whittaker resigned his position as a retired Justice in order to become chief counsel to [[General Motors Corporation|General Motors]]. He also became a resolute critic of the [[Warren Court]] as well as the [[Civil Rights Movement]], characterizing the [[civil disobedience]] of the type practiced by [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and his followers as lawless. He wrote a piece for the ''[[FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin]]'' that advised protesters to use courts instead of taking to the streets.<ref>Urofsky, Melvin I. [https://books.google.com/books?id=kv3uCgAAQBAJ&dq=Whittaker%20%20article%20FBI%20Law%20Enforcement%20Bulletin&pg=PA534 ''The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary.''] New York: Garland Pub, 1994.</ref> Whittaker died on November 26, 1973, at [[Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City|St. Luke's Hospital]] in Kansas City, Missouri of a ruptured abdominal [[aneurysm]].<ref name="vindicate">[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LiZKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iYUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5071,5067075&dq=charles+whittaker+dies&hl=en "Charles Whittaker dies; On top court"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160312055612/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LiZKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iYUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5071,5067075&dq=charles+whittaker+dies&hl=en |date=March 12, 2016 }}, ''Youngstown Vindicator,'' 27 November 1973</ref><ref>"Former Justice Whittaker of Supreme Court is dead," ''The New York Times'', November 27, 1973.</ref><br />
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==Family==<br />
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In 1928, Whittaker married Winifred R. Pugh. They had three sons: Dr. Charles Keith Whittaker, a neurosurgeon; Kent E. Whittaker, an attorney; and Gary T. Whittaker, a stockbroker.<br />
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==Legacy and honors==<br />
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The federal courthouse in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, which houses the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri]], is named in memory of Whittaker.<br />
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==See also==<br />
*[[List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States]]<br />
*[[List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 6)]]<br />
*[[List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office]]<br />
*[[List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Warren Court|United States Supreme Court cases during the Warren Court]]<br />
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==References==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
<br />
==Further reading==<br />
*Abraham, Henry J., ''Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court. 3d. ed.'' (New York: [[Oxford University Press]], 1992). {{ISBN|0-19-506557-3}}.<br />
*Cushman, Clare, ''The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies,1789–1995'' (2nd ed.) (Supreme Court Historical Society), ([[Congressional Quarterly]] Books, 2001) {{ISBN|1-56802-126-7}}; {{ISBN|978-1-56802-126-3}}.<br />
*Frank, John P., ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'' (Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, editors) ([[Chelsea House]] Publishers: 1995) {{ISBN|0-7910-1377-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7910-1377-9}}.<br />
*Martin, Fenton S. and Goehlert, Robert U., ''The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography'', (Congressional Quarterly Books, 1990). {{ISBN|0-87187-554-3}}.<br />
*{{cite book|author=Smith, Craig Alan|title=Failing Justice: Charles Evans Whittaker On The Supreme Court|publisher=McFarland & Company, 2005}}<br />
*Urofsky, Melvin I., ''The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary'' (New York: [[Garland Publishing]] 1994). 590 pp.&nbsp;{{ISBN|0-8153-1176-1}}; {{ISBN|978-0-8153-1176-8}}.<br />
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==External links==<br />
{{wikisource|works=or}}<br />
*[https://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/finding_aids/pdf/Miller_Richard_Papers.pdf Papers of Richard Lawrence Miller, 1998-2001 (materials collected while working on a biography of Supreme Court Justice Charles E. Whittaker: ''Whittaker: Struggles of a Supreme Court Justice. Greenwood Publishers, 2001.'')], ''Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library''<br />
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{{s-start}}<br />
{{s-legal}}<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[Albert L. Reeves]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the [[United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri]]}}|years=1954–1956}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[Randle Jasper Smith]]}}<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[John Caskie Collet]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title={{nowrap|Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]]}}|years=1956–1957}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[Marion Charles Matthes]]}}<br />
{{s-bef|before=[[Stanley Forman Reed]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title=[[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]|years=1957–1962}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[Byron White]]}}<br />
{{s-end}}<br />
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{{SCOTUS Justices}}<br />
{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Whittaker, Charles Evans}}<br />
[[Category:1901 births]]<br />
[[Category:1973 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century American lawyers]]<br />
[[Category:Judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]]<br />
[[Category:Judges of the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri]]<br />
[[Category:Kansas Republicans]]<br />
[[Category:Missouri lawyers]]<br />
[[Category:Missouri Republicans]]<br />
[[Category:People from Troy, Kansas]]<br />
[[Category:United States court of appeals judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower]]<br />
[[Category:United States district court judges appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower]]<br />
[[Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States]]<br />
[[Category:University of Missouri–Kansas City alumni]]<br />
[[Category:American United Methodists]]</div>2601:410:4300:4070:17D2:AD76:94B1:7FB5https://wiki.sarg.dev/index.php?title=Owen_Roberts&diff=416224Owen Roberts2025-08-09T02:36:56Z<p>2601:410:4300:4070:17D2:AD76:94B1:7FB5: added two pictures: a photo of his time as the special prosecutor, and one of his official painting portrait</p>
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<div>{{Short description|US Supreme Court justice from 1930 to 1945}}<br />
{{other people}}<br />
{{Infobox officeholder<br />
|name = Owen Roberts<br />
|image = Owen Josephus Roberts portrait.jpg<br />
|office = [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]<br />
|nominator = [[Herbert Hoover]]<br />
|term_start = June 2, 1930<!-- Term start date as per www.supremecourt.gov, reflects date oath taken --><br />
|term_end = July 31, 1945<br />
|predecessor = [[Edward Terry Sanford]]<br />
|successor = [[Harold Hitz Burton]]<br />
|office1 = 11th Dean of the [[University of Pennsylvania Law School]]<br />
|term_start1 = September 1, 1948<br />
|term_end1 = 1951<br />
|predecessor1 = [[Earl G. Harrison]]<br />
|successor1 = Paul Brunton (acting)<br />
|birth_name = Owen Josephus Roberts<br />
|birth_date = {{birth date|1875|5|2}}<br />
|birth_place = [[Philadelphia]], Pennsylvania, U.S.<br />
|death_date = {{death date and age|1955|5|17|1875|5|2}}<br />
|death_place = [[West Vincent Township, Pennsylvania]], U.S.<br />
|party = [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]<br />
|spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth Rogers|1904}}<br />
|children = 1<br />
|education = [[University of Pennsylvania]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]], [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])<br />
}}<br />
'''Owen Josephus Roberts''' (May 2, 1875&nbsp;– May 17, 1955) was an [[Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court|associate justice of the United States Supreme Court]] from 1930 to 1945.<ref name="SCOTUSjustices">{{cite web |title=Justices 1789 to Present |url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members_text.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160215223303/https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members_text.aspx |archive-date=February 15, 2016 |access-date=February 16, 2022 |publisher=Supreme Court of the United States |location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> He also led two [[Roberts Commissions]], the first of which investigated the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], and the second of which focused on works of cultural value during [[World War&nbsp;II]].<br />
<br />
Born in [[Philadelphia]], Roberts graduated from the [[University of Pennsylvania Law School]] and pursued a legal career. After working as a district attorney in Philadelphia, he was appointed by President [[Calvin Coolidge]] to investigate the [[Teapot Dome scandal]]. After the death of Associate Justice [[Edward Terry Sanford]] in March 1930, President [[Herbert Hoover]] nominated [[John J. Parker]] to fill the vacancy on the court. The Senate rejected Parker and Hoover quickly [[Herbert Hoover Supreme Court candidates|nominated]] Roberts as his second choice for the vacancy. Roberts was easily confirmed and took his position on the court in May 1930.<br />
<br />
On the [[Hughes Court]], Roberts was a swing vote positioned between the conservative [[Four Horsemen (Supreme Court)|Four Horsemen]] and the liberal [[Three Musketeers (Supreme Court)|Three Musketeers]]. Along with Chief Justice [[Charles Evans Hughes]], Roberts's vote often decided whether President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[New Deal]] legislation would be upheld. His decision to uphold the constitutionality of a state minimum wage law in ''[[West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish]]'' has been called "[[the switch in time that saved nine]]". That term references the decision's possible role in the defeat of the [[Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937]], which would have [[Supreme Court of the United States#Size of the court|expanded]] the Supreme Court and thus allowed Roosevelt to appoint Justices more sympathetic to his policies. Roberts's motivation for upholding the constitutionality of the New Deal and his role in the defeat of the bill remains a matter of debate.<br />
<br />
Though the bill was defeated, Roosevelt's long presidency allowed him to appoint most of the court. By the end of Roberts's tenure, he was the lone Supreme Court Justice who was not appointed by Roosevelt.{{efn|[[Chief Justice]] [[Harlan Fiske Stone]] had been appointed as an Associate Justice by Republican President Calvin Coolidge but was elevated to Chief Justice by Democratic Roosevelt so more properly, Roberts was the only Justice who had never been appointed by a Democrat.}} He was one of three Justices, along with [[Robert H. Jackson]] and [[Frank Murphy]], to vote against Roosevelt's orders for [[Japanese American internment]] camps in ''[[Korematsu v. United States]]'' as well as the lone judge to dissent in the case of ''[[Smith v. Allwright]]'', which ruled [[white primaries]] unconstitutional. His relations with his colleagues on the [[Stone Court (judges)|Stone Court]] became strained and he retired in 1945. Roberts served as the Dean of his alma mater, the [[University of Pennsylvania Law School]], from 1948 to 1951. He died in [[Chester County, Pennsylvania]] in 1955.<br />
<br />
==Early life and career==<br />
Roberts was born in [[Philadelphia]] in 1875 and attended [[Germantown Academy]] and enrolled at the [[University of Pennsylvania]] at the age of 16 where he studied [[Greek language|Greek]], was elected to [[Phi Beta Kappa]]<ref>[http://www.pbk.org/userfiles/file/Famous%20Members/PBKSupremeCourtJustices.pdf Supreme Court Justices Who Are Phi Beta Kappa Members] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110928082723/http://www.pbk.org/userfiles/file/Famous%20Members/PBKSupremeCourtJustices.pdf |date=2011-09-28 }}, ''Phi Beta Kappa website'', accessed Oct 4, 2009</ref> and was the editor of ''[[The Daily Pennsylvanian]]''. He completed his bachelor's degree in 1895 and went on to graduate ''[[summa cum laude]]'' and first in his class from the [[University of Pennsylvania Law School]] in 1898.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.law.upenn.edu/about/history/photogallery/Insidegallery/roberts.html |title=Portrait at the University of Pennsylvania |access-date=2007-05-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060110142706/http://www.law.upenn.edu/about/history/photogallery/Insidegallery/roberts.html |archive-date=2006-01-10 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Upon his graduation, he continued his association with the University of Pennsylvania Law School for the next two decades, teaching [[United States contract law|contracts]] and [[property law]], and he also engaged in private legal practice. On March 1, 1912, Roberts and fellow Philadelphia lawyers William W. Montgomery Jr. and [[Charles Louis McKeehan|Charles L. McKeehan]], founded the law firm Roberts, Montgomery & McKeehan, the predecessor of the law firm Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mmwr.com/about-montgomery-mccracken/our-history/|title=History|access-date=2018-01-17|archive-date=2020-12-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201210013745/https://www.mmwr.com/about-montgomery-mccracken/our-history/|url-status=live}}</ref><br />
[[File:Owen J. Roberts & Atlee Pomerene, 2-19-24 LCCN2016848684.jpg|left|thumb|300x300px|Roberts (left), and [[Atlee Pomerene]] in 1924, the two served as special prosecutors for the Teapot Dome Scandal]]<br />
Roberts first gained notice as an assistant district attorney in [[Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia County]], a position he would hold for three years. He was appointed by President [[Calvin Coolidge]] to investigate [[crude oil|oil]] reserve scandals, known as the [[Teapot Dome scandal]]. This led to the prosecution and conviction of [[Albert B. Fall]], the former [[United States Secretary of the Interior|Secretary of the Interior]], for bribe-taking.<br />
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==Supreme Court==<br />
Roberts was [[Nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States|nominated]] by President [[Herbert Hoover]] on May 9, 1930, as an [[associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]] of the Supreme Court, to succeed [[Edward Terry Sanford]]. Hoover selected Roberts after his previous nominee, [[John J. Parker]], had been rejected by the Senate. In contrast to Parker, Roberts was confirmed by voice vote on May 20, 1930.<ref name=SCnominations>{{cite web| title=Supreme Court Nominations (1789-Present)| url=https://www.senate.gov/legislative/nominations/SupremeCourtNominations1789present.htm| publisher=United States Senate| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 16, 2022}}</ref> He took the judicial oath of office on June 2, 1930.<ref name=SCOTUSjustices/><br />
<br />
On the Court, Roberts was a swing vote between those, led by Justices [[Louis Brandeis]], [[Benjamin Cardozo]], and [[Harlan Fiske Stone]], as well as Chief Justice [[Charles Evans Hughes]], who would allow a broader interpretation of the [[Commerce Clause]] to allow Congress to pass [[New Deal]] legislation that would provide for a more active federal role in the national economy, and the [[Four Horsemen (Supreme Court)|Four Horsemen]] (Justices [[James Clark McReynolds]], [[Pierce Butler (justice)|Pierce Butler]], [[George Sutherland]], and [[Willis Van Devanter]]) who favored a narrower interpretation of the Commerce Clause and believed that the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] [[Due Process Clause]] protected a strong "liberty of [[contract]]".<br />
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Owen Roberts.gif|right|thumb|150px|Justice Roberts]] --><br />
In 1936's ''[[United States v. Butler]]'', Roberts sided with the Four Horsemen and wrote an opinion striking down the [[Agricultural Adjustment Act]] as beyond Congress's taxing and spending powers.<br />
[[File:Jowenroberts.jpg|thumb|Roberts' official portrait]]<br />
During his tenure on the Supreme Court, Roberts was elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Owen+Roberts&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616154640/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Owen+Roberts&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |archive-date=June 16, 2023 |access-date=2023-06-16 |website=American Philosophical Society}}</ref><br />
<br />
==="Switch in Time that Saved Nine"===<br />
{{main|The switch in time that saved nine}}<br />
Roberts switched his position on the constitutionality of the New Deal in late 1936, and the Supreme Court handed down ''[[West Coast Hotel v. Parrish]]'' in 1937, upholding the constitutionality of minimum wage laws. Subsequently, the Court would vote to uphold all New Deal programs. Since President Roosevelt's plan to appoint several new justices as part of his "[[Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937|Court-packing]]" plan of 1937 coincided with the Court's favorable decision in Parrish, many people called Roberts's vote in that case "[[The switch in time that saved nine]]," although Roberts's vote in ''Parrish'' occurred several months before announcement of the Court-packing plan. While Roberts is often accused of inconsistency in his jurisprudential stance towards the New Deal, legal scholars note that he had previously argued for a broad interpretation of government power in the 1934 case of ''[[Nebbia v. New York]]'', and so his later vote in ''Parrish'' was not a complete reversal. Roberts, however, had sided with the [[Four Horsemen (Supreme Court)|four conservative justices]] in finding a similar state minimum wage in New York unconstitutional<ref name=gloriousr>{{cite book |title=The Glorious Burden: The American Presidency |url=https://archive.org/details/gloriousburden00lora |url-access=registration |last=Lorant |first=Stefan |year=1968 |page=[https://archive.org/details/gloriousburden00lora/page/628 628] |publisher=New York, Harper and Row |isbn=9780060126865}}</ref> in June 1936. Because the announcement of the Parrish decision took place in March 1937, one month after Roosevelt announced his plan to pack the court, it created speculation that Roberts had voted in favor of Washington's state minimum wage law because he had succumbed to political pressure.<br />
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However, Chief Justice [[Charles Evans Hughes]] contended in his autobiographical notes that Roosevelt's attempt to pack the court "had not the slightest effect" on the Court's ruling in the Parrish case<ref name=uopqpvz>{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Marian C. |title=Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War: The Court-packing Crisis of 1937. |publisher=Fordham University Press. |place=New York, NY |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8232-2154-7 |page=419}}</ref> and records showed that Roberts indicated his desire to uphold Washington state's minimum wage law two months prior to Roosevelt's court-packing announcement in December 1936.<ref name=uopqpvz13>{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Marian C. |title=Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War: The Court-packing Crisis of 1937. |publisher=Fordham University Press. |place=New York, NY |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8232-2154-7 |page=414}}</ref> On December 19, 1936, two days after oral arguments ended for the Parrish case, Roberts voted in favor of Washington's state minimum wage law, but the Supreme Court was divided 4–4 because pro-New Deal Associate Justice [[Harlan Fiske Stone]] was absent due to an illness;<ref name=uopqpvz13 /> Hughes contended that this long delay in the Parrish case's announcement led to false speculation that Roosevelt's court packing plan intimidated the Court into ruling in favor of the New Deal.<ref name=uopqpvz /> Roberts and Hughes both acknowledged that because of the overwhelming support that had been shown for the New Deal through Roosevelt's re-election in November 1936,<ref name=hucourtas>{{cite web |url=http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1399&context=facpubs |title=Government Lawyers and the New Deal |last=Devins |first=Neal |date=1996 |publisher=William & Mary Law School |access-date=July 8, 2012 |archive-date=February 9, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209223514/http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1399&context=facpubs |url-status=live }}</ref> Hughes was able to persuade Roberts to no longer base his votes on his own political beliefs and side with him during future votes on New Deal related policies.<ref name=hucourtas /><ref name=uopqpvz22>{{cite book |last=McKenna |first=Marian C. |title=Franklin Roosevelt and the Great Constitutional War: The Court-packing Crisis of 1937. |publisher=Fordham University Press. |place=New York, NY |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-8232-2154-7 |pages=422–423}}</ref> In one of his notes from 1936, Hughes wrote that Roosevelt's re-election forced the court to depart from "its fortress in public opinion" and severely weakened its capability to base its rulings on personal or political beliefs.<ref name=hucourtas /><br />
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===Other rulings and Roberts Commissions===<br />
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Roberts wrote the majority opinion in the landmark case of ''[[New Negro Alliance v. Sanitary Grocery Co.]]'', {{ussc|303|552|1938}}, which safeguarded the right to [[boycott]] in the context of the struggle by African Americans against discriminatory hiring practices. He also wrote the majority opinion sustaining provisions of the second Agricultural Adjustment Act applied to the marketing of tobacco in ''[[Mulford v. Smith]]'', {{ussc|307|38|1939}}.<br />
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Roberts was appointed by Roosevelt to head the [[Roberts Commission|commission]] investigating the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]]; his report was published in 1942 and was highly critical of the [[US military]]. An antiwar journalist, [[John T. Flynn]], wrote at the time that Roosevelt's appointment of Roberts<ref>[[John T. Flynn|Flynn, John]]. [http://www.antiwar.com/rep/flynn1.html "The Final Secret of Pearl Harbor"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191005011838/http://www.antiwar.com/rep/flynn1.html |date=2019-10-05 }} (October 1945)</ref><br />
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<blockquote><br />
was a master stroke. What the public overlooked was that Roberts had been one of the most clamorous among those screaming for an open declaration of war. He had doffed his robes, taken to the platform in his frantic apprehensions and demanded that we immediately unite with Great Britain in a single nation. The Pearl Harbor incident had given him what he had been yelling for&nbsp;– America's entrance into the war. On the war issue he was one of the President's most impressive allies. Now he had his wish. He could be depended on not to cast any stain upon it in its infancy.<br />
</blockquote><br />
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Perhaps influenced by his work on the Pearl Harbor commission, Roberts dissented from the Court's decision upholding internment of Japanese-Americans along the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] in 1944's ''[[Korematsu v. United States]]''.<br />
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The second [[Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program#Formation|Roberts Commission]] was established in 1943 to consolidate earlier efforts on a national basis with the US Army to help protect monuments, fine arts, and archives in war zones.<ref>[http://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org/robertscommission/ Roberts Commission] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014115819/http://www.monumentsmenfoundation.org/robertscommission/ |date=2013-10-14 }}, [[Monuments Men Foundation for the Preservation of Art]] webpage. Retrieved 2013-05-30.</ref> The commission ran until 1946, when its activities were consolidated into the [[United States Department of State|State Department]]<br />
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Roberts also played a key role in the creation of the OSS [[Nazi plunder#Art Looting Investigation Unit|Art Looting Investigation Unit]] (ALIU) which investigated and documented Nazi plunder networks in Europe.<ref>{{cite web|title=OSS ART LOOTING INVESTIGATION UNIT REPORTS, 1945-46|url=https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1782.pdf|website=Archives.gov|publisher=US Office of Strategic Services|access-date=19 June 2017|archive-date=20 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170720000335/https://www.archives.gov/files/research/microfilm/m1782.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><br />
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In his later years on the bench, Roberts was the only Justice on the Supreme Court who was not appointed (or, in the case of Stone, who had become Chief Justice, promoted) by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. Roberts became frustrated with the willingness of the new justices to overturn precedent and with what he saw as their result-oriented liberalism as judges. Roberts dissented bitterly in the 1944 case of ''[[Smith v. Allwright]]'', which found the white primary unconstitutional and overruled [[Grovey v. Townsend|an opinion that had been written by Roberts himself]] a mere nine years earlier. He coined in that dissent the oft-quoted phrase that the frequent overruling of decisions "tends to bring adjudications of this tribunal into the same class as a restricted railroad ticket, good for this day and train only".<br />
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===Retirement===<br />
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Roberts retired from the Court the following year, in 1945; Roberts's relations with his colleagues had become so strained that fellow Justice [[Hugo Black]] refused to sign the customary letter acknowledging Roberts's service on his retirement. Other justices refused to sign a modified letter that would have been acceptable to Black, and in the end, no letter was ever sent.<br />
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Shortly after leaving the Court, Roberts reportedly burned all of his legal and judicial papers. As a result, there is no significant collection of Roberts's manuscript papers, as there is for most other modern Justices. Roberts did prepare a short memorandum discussing his alleged change of stance around the time of the court-packing effort, which he left in the hands of Justice [[Felix Frankfurter]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://newdeal.feri.org/court/roberts.htm |title=Roberts Memorandum |first1=Justice Owen J. |last1=Roberts |date=November 9, 1945 |publisher=[[New Deal Network]] |access-date=June 30, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120404200647/http://newdeal.feri.org/court/roberts.htm |archive-date=April 4, 2012 }}</ref><br />
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==Later life==<br />
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In 1946, Roberts was the first layperson elected to serve as President of the House of Deputies for the General Convention of the [[Episcopal Church (United States)]]. He served for one convention.<ref>Barnes, C. Rankin, "The General Convention Offices and Officers 1785-1950"</ref><br />
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While in retirement Roberts, along with [[Robert P. Bass]], convened the [[Dublin Declaration]], a plan to change the [[U.N. General Assembly]] into a world legislature with "limited but definite and adequate power for the prevention of war".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.govrecords.org/sdoc107-3-authority-and-rules-of-senate-committees.html |title=S.Doc.107-3 Authority and Rules of Senate Committees, 2001–2002<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2009-01-21 |archive-date=2019-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191128111637/http://www.govrecords.org/sdoc107-3-authority-and-rules-of-senate-committees.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><br />
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Roberts served as the Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School from 1948 to 1951.<br />
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He died at his [[Chester County, Pennsylvania|Chester County]], [[Pennsylvania]], farm known as the [[Strickland-Roberts Homestead]] after a four-month illness.<ref name="nom">{{cite web| url = http://www.arch.state.pa.us/| title = National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania| publisher = ARCH: Pennsylvania's Historic Architecture & Archaeology| format = Searchable database| access-date = 2012-11-02| archive-date = 2012-10-28| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121028073929/http://www.arch.state.pa.us/| url-status = live}} ''Note:'' This includes {{cite web| url = https://www.dot7.state.pa.us/ce_imagery/phmc_scans/H001586_01H.pdf| title = National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Strickland-Roberts Homestead| access-date = 2012-11-20| author1 = Virginia Stoudt, Estelle Cremers| author2 = Kelly Murphy, III| name-list-style = amp| date = n.d.}}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth Caldwell Rogers, and daughter, Elizabeth Hamilton.<br />
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[[Germantown Academy]] named its debate society after Owen J. Roberts in his honor. In addition, a school district near [[Pottstown, Pennsylvania]], the [[Owen J. Roberts School District]], was named after him.<br />
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==See also==<br />
{{colbegin}}<br />
*[[List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States]]<br />
*[[List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 8)]]<br />
*[[List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office]]<br />
*[[List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Hughes Court|United States Supreme Court cases during the Hughes Court]]<br />
*[[List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Stone Court|United States Supreme Court cases during the Stone Court]]<br />
{{colend}}<br />
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==Notes==<br />
{{notelist}}<br />
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==Citations==<br />
{{reflist}}<br />
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==References==<br />
*{{cite news<br />
|url = https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nytimes/85696619.html?did=85696619&FMT=ABS&FMTS=AI&date=May+18%2C+1955&author=Special+to+The+New+York+Times.&pub=New+York+Times++(1857-Current+file)&desc=Owen+Roberts+Dies%3B+Former+Justice%2C+80<br />
|title = Owen Roberts Dies; Former Justice, 80<br />
|work = [[The New York Times]]<br />
|page = 1<br />
|date = May 18, 1955<br />
}}{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}<br />
*"The Roberts Commission and Pearl Harbor," in Kenneth Kitts, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070324222717/http://www.rienner.com/viewbook.cfm?BOOKID=1536&search=kitts ''Presidential Commissions and National Security''] (Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2006).<br />
*Germantown Academy, [http://www.germantownacademy.net/Library/InfoManage/Guide.asp?FolderID=322 Clubs and Organizations]{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}<br />
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==Sources==<br />
* {{FJC Bio|2024|nid=1387006|name=Owen Josephus Roberts<!--(1875–1955)-->}}<br />
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==Further reading==<br />
*Abraham, Henry J., ''Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court. 3d. ed.'' (New York: [[Oxford University Press]], 1992). {{ISBN|0-19-506557-3}}.<br />
*Cushman, Clare, ''The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies,1789-1995'' (2nd ed.) (Supreme Court Historical Society), ([[Congressional Quarterly]] Books, 2001) {{ISBN|1-56802-126-7}}; {{ISBN|978-1-56802-126-3}}.<br />
*Frank, John P., ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions'' (Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel, editors) ([[Chelsea House]] Publishers: 1995) {{ISBN|0-7910-1377-4}}, {{ISBN|978-0-7910-1377-9}}.<br />
*Martin, Fenton S. and Goehlert, Robert U., ''The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography'', (Congressional Quarterly Books, 1990). {{ISBN|0-87187-554-3}}.<br />
*Urofsky, Melvin I., ''The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary'' (New York: [[Garland Publishing]] 1994). 590 pp.&nbsp;{{ISBN|0-8153-1176-1}}; {{ISBN|978-0-8153-1176-8}}.<br />
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{{commons category|Owen Josephus Roberts}}<br />
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==External links==<br />
{{wikisource|works=or}}<br />
*[http://www.dailylocal.com/article/20120524/LIFE01/120529817/history-s-people-owen-j-roberts-a-man-of-justice&pager=full_story Owen J. Roberts profile by historian Rob Lukens] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140423004134/http://www.dailylocal.com/article/20120524/LIFE01/120529817/history-s-people-owen-j-roberts-a-man-of-justice%26pager%3Dfull_story |date=2014-04-23 }}<br />
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{{s-bef|before=[[Edward Terry Sanford|Edward Sanford]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title=[[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]|years=1930–1945}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=[[Harold Hitz Burton|Harold Burton]]}}<br />
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{{s-bef|before=[[Earl G. Harrison]]}}<br />
{{s-ttl|title=Dean of the [[University of Pennsylvania Law School]]|years=1948–1951}}<br />
{{s-aft|after=Paul Brunton<br>Acting}}<br />
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{{SCOTUS Justices}}<br />
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{{Special Prosecutors and Independent Counsels of the U.S.}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Owen Josephus}}<br />
[[Category:1875 births]]<br />
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[[Category:Deans of University of Pennsylvania Law School]]<br />
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