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Robert H. Jackson

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Also known as Robert Houghwout Jackson

US Supreme Court justice from 1941 to 1954 (1892–1954)

Person · Open Library

Works
58

Top works

  • Creole Jesuits in the Province of New Spain In 1767
  • The Nurnberg Case
  • Wartime security and liberty under law
  • Urban Plan, Architecture, and the Geography of the Sacred in Colonial Morelos
  • Visual Catalog of the Building Complexes of the Male Religious Orders in Mexicos Colonial Cities

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type
Person

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Quotes

  • The office of the lawyer, however poorly filled, is too delicate, personal and confidential to be occupied by a corporation.
  • Our people do not want barren theories from their democracy. Maury Maverick has expressed very quaintly, but clearly, what they really want when he says: 'We Americans want to talk, pray, think as we please — and eat regular'.
  • Often his name was, in a generation or two, forgotten. It was from this brotherhood that America has drawn its statesmen and its judges. A free and self-governing Republic stands as a monument for the little-known and unremembered as well as for the famous men of our profession.
  • I used to say that, as Solicitor General, I made three arguments in every case. First came the one I had planned – as I thought, logical, coherent, complete. Second was the one actually presented – interrupted, incoherent, disjointed, disappointing. The third was the utterly devastating argument that I thought of after going to bed that night…
  • On your first appearance before the Court, do not waste your time and ours telling us so. We are likely to discover for ourselves that you are a novice but will think none the less of you for it. Every famous lawyer had his first day at our bar, and perhaps a sad one…. Be respectful, of course, but also be self-respectful, and neither disparage yourself nor flatter the Justices. We think well enough of ourselves already.
  • Our forefathers found the evils of free thinking more to be endured than the evils of inquest or suppression. This is because thoughtful, bold and independent minds are essential to wide and considered self-government,

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Nominated by
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Preceded by
Harlan F. Stone
Succeeded by
John Marshall Harlan II
President
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Born
Robert Houghwout Jackson , ( 1892-02-13 ) February 13, 1892, Spring Creek , Pennsylvania , U.S.
Died
October 9, 1954 (1954-10-09) (aged 62), Washington, D.C. , U.S.
Resting place
Maple Grove Cemetery, Frewsburg, New York , U.S.
Party
Democratic
Spouse
Irene Alice Gerhardt ​ ​ ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1916 ) ​
Education
Albany Law School
Awards
Medal for Merit

via Wikipedia infobox

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

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 at the Nuremberg trials prosecuting Nazi war criminals following World War II. 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.

Jackson was the most recent U.S. Supreme Court justice who did not earn 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 a year. Jackson is recognized 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."

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Robert H. Jackson” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.