John W. Davis
John W. Davis was a prominent American lawyer and politician, born in West Virginia and educated at Washington and Lee University. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1911 to 1913, and was appointed by President Woodrow Wilson as the solicitor general, a position he held from 1913 to 1918. Davis was known for his eloquent oratory and meticulous approach, successfully arguing forty-eight out of sixty-seven cases before the Supreme Court, often in opposition to his own personal beliefs. His legal career included notable victories in civil liberties cases, such as defending conscientious objection to military service. Despite his accomplishments, Davis maintained a segregationist stance and showed indifference towards the rights of racial minorities. His later career included a role as an ambassador to Great Britain and work as a corporate attorney on Wall Street, where he won significant business-related legal cases. In his final Supreme Court appearance in 1954, he represented prosegregationists in the landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, which resulted in a unanimous ruling against him, marking a pivotal moment in the history of civil rights in the United States.
Subject Terms
John W. Davis
Significance: Davis argued more cases (140) before the Supreme Court than any attorney in history, including numerous high-profile cases resulting in decisions that changed U.S. jurisprudence and society.
Born in West Virginia and educated at Washington and Lee University, Davis possessed a stoic conservatism that often created conflicts between his personal beliefs and his professional obligations. A meticulous person with a penchant for elegant oratory, Davis served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1911-1913) before President Woodrow Wilson appointed him solicitor general in 1913. During his tenure as solicitor general (1913-1918), Davis won forty-eight of the sixty-seven cases he argued before the Supreme Court, often championing causes (such as antitrust legislation, fair labor practices, and black voting rights) that he personally opposed. Following a stint as ambassador to Great Britain and an unsuccessful run for president, Davis worked on Wall Street as a corporate attorney, winning several landmark probusiness decisions before the Court.
Davis also established a reputation as a civil liberties attorney, successfully defending conscientious objection to military service in United States v. Macintosh (1931) and winning a number of key cases pertaining to free press and association. Yet Davis, an ardent segregationist, demonstrated little concern for the rights of racial minorities. In 1952, at the age of eighty, he led prosegregation attorneys before the Court in the case of Brown v. Board of Education (1954), in which plaintiffs petitioned the Court to integrate public schools. In his final appearance before the Court, Davis lost the Brown case by unanimous decision.