Warren, Earl
OTHER-NAME: Chief Justice Earl Warren
DATE OF BIRTH: 19 March 1891
PLACE OF BIRTH: Los Angeles, CA
DATE OF DEATH: 7 July 1974
PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C.
CATEGORY: Government & Politics
DISCIPLINE: Law
ASSESSMENT: remembered for his strong leadership as the fourteenth U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, from 1953 to 1969
LANGUAGE: English
EDUCATION: Kern County H.S., Bakersfield, Ca; B.S. & J.D. from UC Berkeley, CA.
ACHIEVEMENTS: District Attorney, Alameda County, California; California State Attorney General; Governor of California (3 terms); Chief Justice of U.S. Supreme Court (1953-1969)
MAJOR-WORK: Brown v Bd., JFK Report
DETAILS: Early experiences working for a railroad and a district attorney office in California had profound impact on Earl Warren and influenced his later career as Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.“Warren’s Court”, as it was later called, was considered revolutionary, and Warren’s early experiences with the practice of law and his exposure to the power big corporations had over employees affected his attitudes.
Warren served in the army during World War I and then returned to California. To gain legal experience, he started what he thought would be a brief stint with the Alameda County district attorney’s office, then spending 18 years there, serving as district attorney three times.Warren was elected California state attorney general and gained a national reputation. He was known for having high ideals and in 1931, a survey listed Warren as the best district attorney in the United States. He worked to bring law enforcement agencies together, and his popularity in California soared. His election in 1942 was the first of three terms as Republican governor of California.
Unfortunately, the act Warren is most remembered for in California is also that which he later referred to as one of his biggest political mistakes: his support of the decision to intern Japanese Americans during World War II. The intent was to prevent espionage and reduce hysteria that had occurred on the west coast following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Though he considered it necessary at the time, he later wrote that he regretted his action.
The California governorship was a great achievement, however, and it led to his run for Vice pPresident of the U.S. in 1948 with Thomas E. Dewey. The pair lost, but Warren remained a strong force in republican politics. Four years later, he played a significant role in Eisenhower’s * successful run for President by swinging the California delegation in his favor. Eisenhower nominated Warren to the Supreme Court in 1953.Initially, Warren’s lack of judicial experience was questioned. However, his legal work experience had provided him with far more law knowledge than most justices. However, Warren’s political skill was eventually seen as his greatest asset. Warren proved himself a powerful leader on the Court, forging majorities in support of critical decisions and repeatedly prying unanimous decisions out of his colleagues.
There are five significant achievements Warren is most often noted for while serving as Chief Justice. His first test of leadership involved the highly publicized case of Brown v. Board of Education.Oliver Brown was an African-American whose 7-year-old daughter Linda daily traveled 90 minutes one-way to a run-down, segregated public school. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People took up Brown’s case. Along with a group of similar cases, it was presented before Warren’s court. Warren reportedly told his colleagues he thought segregation violated the Constitution. He believed segregation could only continue if African-Americans were considered inferior to Caucasians. He led the justices to the unanimous decision to desegregate the country’s public schools.He wrote, “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” since they did not provide equal protection under the law (as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment) to African-American children. This success was the start of a significant achievement of Warren’s: throughout his tenure, even through the change of justices, all decisions regarding racial segregation were unanimous.
Warren’s court also extended constitutional rights for criminals in state courts. The Court ruled the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth and Eighth Amendments were not only limited to the federal courts, but that they applied to individual states through the Fourteenth Amendment. Since Warren had formerly been a prosecutor, it surprised some that he displayed sympathy for the rights of the accused. However, Warren always insisted that law enforcement officials play fair. He made it clear that even criminals had constitutionally-protected rights. This powerful ruling led to the development of state public defender systems.
The most controversial criminal case handled by the Court under Warren was Miranda v. Arizona (1966). From that case came a set of verbal warnings police must give to suspects before they interrogate them. Evidence obtained without such warnings must be thrown out of court. These “Miranda warnings” have completely changed police procedures.
Warren’s influence was felt further when he influenced how the composition of state legislatures was decided. Prior to Warren’s time as Chief Justice, state rural districts controlled state legislatures. In Reynolds v. Sims (1964), Warren coined the phrase, “one person, one vote,” declaring that all legislatures must apportion their voting districts based on population. This decision eventually allowed urban areas to have more clout.
Warren’s final significant achievement was one he later regretted. Under pressure from President Lyndon B. Johnson* in 1963, Warren agreed to head a commission whose purpose was to investigate the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy*, who in 1961 had taken his oath of office from Warren.The committee was called the “Warren Commission”, but Warren was not happy participating. He questioned his role as possibly threatening separation of powers, and felt it would be detrimental to his work in the Court.The Warren Commission conducted a lengthy investigation of JFK’s assassination, producing an 888-page report based on more than 27,000 interviews and more than 3000 reports. Their conclusion was that one individual, Lee Harvey Oswald*, murdered Kennedy. The Commission found no conspiracy behind the crime. The report was challenged immediately. To this day, however, nothing has contradicted its findings. In his memoirs, Mr. Warren regretted his initial instinct to refuse the assignment.
Warren retired from the Court in1969. Though self-described no “legal scholar”, it is evident Warren succeeded as Court leader and in following his vision that it was the Supreme Court’s role and responsibility to help protect citizens’ constitutional rights.He was a supreme judicial activist whose court made powerful, long-lasting decisions.
EXTRA CONNECTIONS: None
ONELINER: Earl Warren, famous US Chief Justice
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Cray, Ed, Chief Justice: A Biography of Earl Warren,Simon & Schuster, New York, 1997.
Davis, Daniel F. and Lunger, Norman, A History of the United States Since 1945,Scholastic Inc., New York, 1987.
Wallechinsky, David, The People’s Almanac Presents the 20th Century; History With the Boring Parts Left Out, The Overlook Press, New York, 1999.
Weaver, John D., Warren: The Man, The Court, The Era,Little, Brown and Company, Boston, 1967.
PARENTS: Methias H. (“Matt”) Warren; Christine Hernlund
SPOUSE: Nina Palmquist Meyers
SIBLINGS: Ethel
CHILDREN: Nina; Dottie (three other children; one step-child)