Can you name one Supreme Court Justice?

by David Grand
July 28, 2005

According to a recent nationwide survey, only 1 in 4 high school seniors could, or knew the name of their U.S. congressman or senator. And as Jay Leno's street interviews of people from all walks of life and ages revealed, that most of 'em were unable to correctly answer the same or similar questions. I attribute that to both a lack of interest and to the failure on the part of our educational system to require civics and American history classes in the curriculum at the high school level. Even in my outmoded school system of the 40s we had ample dozes of both.

Now, I'm not all that knowledgeable about the Supreme Court myself. However. I can name the nine justices, given 10 minutes or so to remember 'em all, and I am aware that the Supreme Court's most important responsibility is to decide cases that raise questions of constitutional interpretation.

So, I decided to bone up on the subject, and pass on to you what I found of interest, even though I recognize you may find it as uninteresting as reading yesterday's news, or about a local garden party.

• When established in 1789 as the third branch of the federal government, it consisted of five justices, whose duties included traveling through the country on horseback to hear cases in federal district courts. And it wasn't until 1891 that Congress abolished the justices' circuit-riding burden and the number of justices was fixed at nine.
• Thereafter, they had to conduct sessions in temporary locations, including in a congressional committee room, and in a courtroom built in the Capitol basement; and in 1935, they got their own building. (And we get a lot for our money, considering that its annual budget is about $30 million.)
• Only Protestants served on the Court until 1836, when Roger B. Taney, a Catholic, was put on the court, and who's best remembered for casting shame on the Court in 1857 by delivering a landmark decision in the notorious Dred Scott case, that further polarized the North and South and hastened the start of the Civil War. Why Taneytown chose to name their town after him is beyond me.
• Other firsts: Lewis D. Brandeis, the first Jewish justice; William Howard Taft, the only president to be later appointed chief justice; Charles Evans Hughes, the only justice to serve on the Court twice; Thurgood Marshall, the first African American justice; Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman justice; and Antonin Scalia, the first Italian American justice. (No Hispanics yet, but you can bet one's coming.)
• William O. Douglas was the longest serving justice at 36 years, with John Marshall, Stephen Field and John Harlan in a three-way tie for second pace with 34 years.
• The most outstanding justices were: John Marshall, who was principally responsible for developing the power of the Supreme Court and formulating constitutional law in the nation; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who became famous for his liberal interpretations of the Constitution; Charles Evans Hughes, who was thought by many to have been the best chief justice since John Marshall and who presided over the Court during the critical depression years of the 1930s; Felix Frankfurter, whose philosophy was one of judicial restraint and who believed that the Court should not interfere with the rulings of state legislatures and Congress; and Chief Justice Earl Warren, who greatly expanded individual rights and government power to regulate the economy. (Eisenhower was, however, totally disillusioned when he discovered, that rather than having appointed a fellow conservative to the Court, he'd chosen one of the great liberal jurist in American history.)  

It'll be interesting to see whether John Roberts (the soon-to-be 109th justice) may likewise do the unexpected once he's on the Court, and ends up  replicating the swing-vote model of the justice he'd be replacing, Sandra Day O'Connor. If he does do a turnabout, however, there'd be a march on Washington by pro-lifers that would make the civil rights march by over 200,000 people in March 1963 look like a family gathering; and with Bush's popularity with his base plummeting as fast as a cat scurrying up a tree at the approach of a strange dog. But we won't know that, until we observe who he bellies up to the bar with, that is, the bar of justice.