Owen Josephus Roberts

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US Supreme Court justice from 1930 to 1945

For other people named Owen Roberts, see Owen Roberts (disambiguation) .

Owen Josephus Roberts (May 2, 1875 – May 17, 1955) was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1930 to 1945. He also led two Roberts Commissions , the first of which investigated the attack on Pearl Harbor , and the second of which focused on works of cultural value during World War II .

Born in Philadelphia , Roberts graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and pursued a legal career. After working as a district attorney in Philadelphia, he was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to investigate the Teapot Dome scandal . After the death of Associate Justice Edward Terry Sanford in March 1930, President Herbert Hoover nominated John J. Parker to fill the vacancy on the court. The Senate rejected Parker and Hoover quickly nominated Roberts as his second choice for the vacancy. Roberts was easily confirmed and took his position on the court in May 1930.

On the Hughes Court , Roberts was a swing vote positioned between the conservative Four Horsemen and the liberal Three Musketeers . Along with Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes , Roberts's vote often decided whether President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal legislation would be upheld. His decision to uphold the constitutionality of a state minimum wage law in _West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish _ has been called "the switch in time that saved nine ". That term references the decision's possible role in the defeat of the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 , which would have expanded the Supreme Court and thus allowed Roosevelt to appoint Justices more sympathetic to his policies. Roberts's motivation for upholding the constitutionality of the New Deal and his role in the defeat of the bill remains a matter of debate.

Though the bill was defeated, Roosevelt's long presidency allowed him to appoint most of the court. By the end of Roberts's tenure, he was the lone Supreme Court Justice who was not appointed by Roosevelt. He was one of three Justices, along with Robert H. Jackson and Frank Murphy , to vote against Roosevelt's orders for Japanese American internment camps in _Korematsu v. United States _ as well as the lone judge to dissent in the case of _Smith v. Allwright _, which ruled white primaries unconstitutional. His relations with his colleagues on the Stone Court became strained and he retired in 1945. Roberts served as the Dean of his alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania Law School , from 1948 to 1951. He died in Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1955.

Early life and career

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Roberts was born in Philadelphia in 1875 and attended Germantown Academy and enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania at the age of 16 where he studied Greek , was elected to Phi Beta Kappa

and was the editor of _The Daily Pennsylvanian _. He completed his bachelor's degree in 1895 and went on to graduate _summa cum laude _ and first in his class from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1898. Upon his graduation, he continued his association with the University of Pennsylvania Law School for the next two decades, teaching contracts and property law , and he also engaged in private legal practice. On March 1, 1912, Roberts and fellow Philadelphia lawyers William W. Montgomery Jr. and Charles L. McKeehan , founded the law firm Roberts, Montgomery & McKeehan, the predecessor of the law firm Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP.

Roberts (left), and Atlee Pomerene in 1924, the two served as special prosecutors for the Teapot Dome Scandal

Roberts first gained notice as an assistant district attorney in Philadelphia County , a position he would hold for three years. He was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to investigate oil reserve scandals, known as the Teapot Dome scandal . This led to the prosecution and conviction of Albert B. Fall , the former Secretary of the Interior , for bribe-taking.

Supreme Court

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Roberts was nominated by President Herbert Hoover on May 9, 1930, as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States of the Supreme Court, to succeed Edward Terry Sanford . Hoover selected Roberts after his previous nominee, John J. Parker , had been rejected by the Senate

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