John Paul Stevens

Supreme Court Justice

• Born: April 20, 1920
• Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
• Died: July 16, 2019
• Place of death: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

John Paul Stevens established himself as a strong interpreter and teacher of the law before he was confirmed as an associate justice of the Supreme Court in 1975. He was among the more moderate, independent justices on the court, and as such he was known to vote with both liberal and conservative members—although in the latter part of his tenure he was considered to be squarely in the liberal camp. Stevens was often described as mild-mannered, and the facts and context of a case were often the dominant influences on his decisions.

Background

Stevens was born on April 20, 1920, in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest son of Ernest and Elizabeth Stevens. His was an upper-class childhood; his father owned the Stevens Hotel (later the Chicago Hilton) and was successful in the insurance industry. The young Stevens attended the University of Chicago's laboratory high school, and returned to the university to pursue a bachelor's degree in English literature. He was the editor of the school's newspaper, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1941.

With the onset of World War II, Stevens became a sailor in the US Navy. He was discharged in 1945, and received the Bronze Star medal for his service. Stevens then resumed his academic career, enrolling in Northwestern University School of Law. During his time there, he served as editor of the school's law review and graduated as valedictorian of his class in 1947, boasting the highest grades in the history of the school.

Law Career

With his law degree in hand, Stevens traveled to Washington, DC, in 1947 to clerk for Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge. Two years later, in 1949, he returned to his home state, and began practicing with a Chicago law firm. He focused on antitrust cases, and in 1951, he was tapped by the US House of Representatives' Judiciary Committee to serve as associate counsel to its Subcommittee on the Study of Monopoly Power. In 1953, the attorney general selected Stevens to participate in his National Committee to Study Antitrust Law. At the same time, Stevens taught antitrust law at both of his alma maters.

Continuing his work as an attorney and a law professor, Stevens became second vice president of the Chicago Bar Association in 1970. The same year, President Richard Nixon appointed him as a judge of the Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals. He would remain with the Court of Appeals until 1975.

Supreme Court

In 1975, Stevens was one of eleven candidates considered to fill a vacant seat on the US Supreme Court. He earned the nomination from President Gerald Ford and was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on December 17, 1975. Just two days later, he took his seat as an associate justice on the high court. He was fifty-five years old. At the time of his nomination, President Ford noted that Stevens was "held in the highest esteem by his colleagues in the legal profession and the judiciary, and has an outstanding career in the practice and teaching of law as well as on the Federal bench."

As a member of the Supreme Court, Stevens initially made his mark as a moderate. Although he had been a registered Republican, he avoided any indication of political bias. Several of his early votes went along with the court's conservative wing, but he soon proved comfortable voting along liberal lines as well, a practice that earned him a reputation as "the most unpredictable justice" on the court.

However, as the court grew increasingly conservative in the later years of his tenure, beginning under the term of Chief Justice William Rehnquist (1986–2005), Stevens became one of its more liberal members. Initially sharply opposed to affirmative action, for example, Stevens's views on the subject moderated over time. He voted against the practice in his dissent in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke (1978), but twenty-five years later voted to uphold it, voting with the majority in Grutter v. Bollinger (2003). He also voted to reinstate use of the death penalty in the United States in Gregg v. Georgia (1976), but became more critical of the practice over time, voting to limit its use in various circumstances, such as with juveniles and the developmentally disabled.

Stevens argued sharply against the conservative majority in Bush v. Gore (2000), arguing that the court's ending of the presidential ballot recount in Florida (which effectively handed Republican George W. Bush the 2000 election) negatively influenced the public's faith in the justice system. He also dissented strongly District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), which struck down a gun control law in the nation's capital, and voted with the liberal justices on topics such as abortion, gay rights, and federalism. Often deferring to lower court and previous rulings, Stevens believed that those closest to the facts of a case are in the best position to deliver an opinion.

Justice Stevens retired from the Supreme Court on June 29, 2010, making him, at nearly thirty-five years on the bench, the third-longest-serving justice, and at age ninety the second-oldest. He largely retired from public view after leaving the court, although he did make some notable appearances and comments. For example, he attended the historic announcement of the Supreme Court's 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges opinion that recognized constitutional protection of same-sex marriage. He also openly opposed the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court in 2018, stating that Kavanaugh's conduct in Senate hearings indicated his potential for political bias. In 2019 Stevens released the memoir The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years.

Stevens was well known for his distinctive habit of wearing bow ties. Outside the court, he enjoyed tennis, squash, and bridge. Stevens married Elizabeth Sheeren in 1942, and the couple had four children before divorcing in 1979. He then married Maryan Mulholland Simon in 1980; she died in 2015. Stevens died on July 16, 2019, at the age of ninety-nine after suffering a stroke.

Bibliography

Barnhart, Bill, and Eugene F. Schlickman. John Paul Stevens: An Independent Life. DeKalb: Northern Illinois UP, 2010.

Greenhouse, Linda. "Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, Who Led Liberal Wing, Dies at 99." The New York Times, 16 July 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/us/john-paul-stevens-dead.html. Accessed 5 Aug. 2019.

Manaster, Kenneth A. Illinois Justice: The Scandal of 1969 and the Rise of John Paul Stevens. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2001.

Rosen, Jeffrey. "The Dissenter, Justice John Paul Stevens." The New York Times, 23 Sept. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/magazine/23stevens-t.html. Accessed 3 Apr. 2018.

Toobin, Jeffrey. "After Stevens." The New Yorker, 22 Mar. 2010, www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/03/22/after-stevens. Accessed 3 Apr. 2018.

Totenberg, Nina. "Justice Stevens: An Open Mind on a Changed Court." NPR, 4 Oct. 2010, www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130198344&sc=fb&cc=fp. Accessed 3 Apr. 2018.