Edward Douglass White

Chief Justice of the United States from 1910 to 1921

For the U.S. politician (1795–1847), see Edward Douglass White Sr.

Edward Douglass White Jr. (November 3, 1845

– May 19, 1921) was an American politician and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1894 to 1910 and as the ninth Chief Justice of the United States from 1910 until his death in 1921, for a total of 27 years on the bench. He was a descendant of the Lee family of Virginia.

Born in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana , White practiced law in New Orleans after graduating from the University of Louisiana, now Tulane University . He also attended the College of the Immaculate Conception, present-day Jesuit High School in New Orleans, class of 1865. His father, Edward Douglass White Sr. , was the 10th Governor of Louisiana and a Whig US Representative . White fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War and was captured in 1865. After the war, White won election to the Louisiana State Senate and served on the Louisiana Supreme Court . As a member of the Democratic Party , White represented Louisiana in the United States Senate from 1891 to 1894.

In 1894, President Grover Cleveland appointed White as an associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1910, President William Howard Taft elevated him to the position of chief justice. The appointment surprised many contemporaries, as Taft was a member of the Republican Party . White served as chief justice until his death in 1921, when he was succeeded by Taft.

White sided with the Supreme Court majority in _Plessy v. Ferguson _, upholding the legality of state segregation to provide "separate but equal " public facilities in the United States. White would go on to write notable opinions in landmark cases such as _Talton v. Mayes _, _Lone Wolf v. Hitchcock _, _Guinn v. United States _, and the _Selective Draft Law Cases _.

Early life and education

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White was born on November 3, 1845, : 17  on his family's sugar plantation near Thibodaux , Louisiana, about 30 miles (48 km) west of New Orleans . : 16  His father, Edward Douglass White Sr. , was a lawyer and judge who had served as a U.S. Representative and as the governor of Louisiana . : 218  The elder White retired from Congress in 1843; his sugar plantation utilized dozens of slaves. : 218  His wife was Catherine Sidney Lee Ringgold, the daughter of influential Washington, D.C. , businessman and politician Tench Ringgold ; : 218  she was a descendant of the Lee family , and the future chief justice was thus distantly related to Confederate general Robert E. Lee . : 204  The couple had five children, of whom White Jr. was the youngest son. : 218  In April 1847, before his namesake son had reached his third birthday, White Sr. died. : 218–219  His wife remarried in 1850, wedding French-Canadian immigrant merchant Andre Brousseau. : 219  The family moved to New Orleans the subsequent year. : 219 

White attended a Jesuit school in New Orleans beginning at the age of six. : 18  Starting in 1856, he and his brother attended Mount St. Mary's College , near Emmitsburg, Maryland . : 18  White enrolled in 1858 at Georgetown University , which biographer Robert Baker Highsaw characterized as "probably the best Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States". : 18  It was distinctly Jesuit as well; university president John Early and a majority of the faculty were all members of the Society of Jesus. : 18  White's Jesuit training influenced his legal philosophy later in life, leading him to emphasize formal logical reasoning . At Georgetown, he studied the classics, the flute, and the violin; he also participated in the school's cadet corp . : 219  After the American Civil War broke out, White left Georgetown without a degree, returning home.

Confederate soldier and Reconstruction

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White's studies at Georgetown were interrupted by the Civil War. He enlisted in the Confederate States Army and served under General [Richard Taylor](https://en

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