Potter Stewart

US Supreme Court justice from 1958 to 1981

Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an American lawyer and judge who was an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to criminal justice reform , civil rights, access to the courts, and Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.

After graduating from Yale Law School in 1941, Stewart served in World War II as a member of the United States Navy Reserve . After the war, he practiced law and served on the Cincinnati city council. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Stewart to a judgeship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit . In 1958, Eisenhower nominated Stewart to succeed retiring Associate Justice Harold Hitz Burton , and Stewart won Senate confirmation afterwards. He was frequently in the minority during the Warren Court but emerged as a centrist swing vote on the Burger Court . Stewart retired in 1981 and was succeeded by the first female United States Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O'Connor .

Stewart wrote the majority opinion in cases such as _Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co. _, _Katz v. United States _, _Chimel v. California _, and _Sierra Club v. Morton _. He wrote dissenting opinions in cases such as _Engel v. Vitale _, _In re Gault _ and _Griswold v. Connecticut _. He popularized the phrase "I know it when I see it " with a concurring opinion in _Jacobellis v. Ohio _, in which a theater owner had been fined for showing a supposedly obscene film. Upon announcing his retirement in 1981, when asked if he had any regrets from his time on the Court, he humorously lamented "In a way, I regret having once said about obscenity 'I know it when I see it' because I think that's gonna be on my tombstone."

Early life and education

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Stewart was born in Jackson, Michigan , on January 23, 1915, while his family was on vacation. He was the son of Harriett L. (Potter) and James Garfield Stewart . His father, a prominent Republican from Cincinnati , Ohio , served as mayor of Cincinnati for nine years and was later a justice of the Ohio Supreme Court .

Stewart earned an academic scholarship to attend the prestigious Hotchkiss School , where he graduated in 1933. He then went on to Yale University , where he was a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon (Phi chapter) and Skull and Bones , graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1937 with a Bachelor of Arts degree _cum laude _. He served as chairman of the _Yale Daily News _. After studying international law at the University of Cambridge in England for a year, Stewart enrolled at Yale Law School where he graduated _cum laude _ in 1941 with a Bachelor of Laws . While at Yale Law School, he was an editor of the _Yale Law Journal _ and a member of Phi Delta Phi . Other members of that era included Gerald R. Ford , Peter H. Dominick , Walter Lord , William Scranton , R. Sargent Shriver , Cyrus R. Vance , and Byron R. White . The last would later become his colleague on the United States Supreme Court .

Stewart served in World War II as a member of the U.S. Naval Reserve aboard oil tankers from 1941 to 1945, attaining the rank of lieutenant junior grade .

In 1943, he married Mary Ann Bertles in a ceremony at Bruton Episcopal Church in Williamsburg, Virginia (at which his brother Zeph—also an initiate of Delta Kappa Epsilon and Skull and Bones , and eventually a professor of classics at Harvard—was the best man). They eventually had a daughter: Harriet (Virkstis), and two sons: Potter Jr. and David. He was in private practice with Dinsmore & Shohl in Cincinnati. During the early 1950s, he was elected to the Cincinnati City Council.

Sixth Circuit service

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Stewart was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower on April 6, 1954, to a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit vacated by Judge Xenophon Hicks . He was confirmed by the United States Senate on April 23, 1954, and received his commission on April 27, 1954. His service terminated on October 13, 1958, due to his elevation to the [Supreme Court of the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_the_United_States "Supre

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