Robert Houghwout Jackson

(Redirected from Robert Houghwout Jackson )

US Supreme Court justice from 1941 to 1954 (1892–1954)

For the photographer, see Robert H. Jackson (photographer) .

Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1941 until his death in 1954. He had previously served as United States Solicitor General and United States Attorney General , and is the only person to have held all three of those offices. Jackson was also notable for his work at the Nuremberg trials prosecuting Nazi war criminals following World War II . Jackson developed a reputation as one of the best writers on the Supreme Court and one of the most committed to enforcing due process as protection from overreaching federal agencies.

Jackson was the most recent U.S. Supreme Court justice who did not earn a law degree . He was admitted to the bar via the older tradition of an internship under an established lawyer ("reading law ") after studying at Albany Law School for a year. Jackson is recognized for his advice that, "Any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect, in no uncertain terms, to make no statement to the police under any circumstances", and for his aphorism describing the Supreme Court, "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final."

He was viewed as a moderate liberal , and is known for his dissents in _Terminiello v. City of Chicago _, _Zorach v. Clauson _, _Everson v. Board of Education _, and _Korematsu v. United States _, as well as his majority opinion in _West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette _ and his concurring opinion in _Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer _. Justice Antonin Scalia , who occupied the seat once held by Jackson, considered Jackson to be "the best legal stylist of the 20th century".

Early life

[(https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Robert_H._Jackson&action=edit&section=1 "Edit section: Early life")
]

Jackson was born on his family's farm in Spring Creek Township, Warren County, Pennsylvania , on February 13, 1892, and was raised in Frewsburg, New York . The son of William Eldred Jackson and Angelina Houghwout, he graduated from Frewsburg High School in 1909 and spent the next year as a post-graduate student attending Jamestown High School , where he worked to improve his writing skills.

Jackson decided on a legal career; since attendance at college or law school was not a requirement if a student learned under the tutelage of an established attorney, at age 18 he began to read law with the Jamestown, New York , firm in which his uncle, Frank Mott, was a partner. His uncle soon introduced him to Franklin Delano Roosevelt , who was then serving as a member of the New York State Senate . Jackson attended Albany Law School of Union University from 1911 to 1912. At the time, students at Albany Law School had three options: taking individual courses without receiving a degree, completing a two-year program and receiving an LL.B. degree, or demonstrating the knowledge required of a first-year student and then taking the second year of the two-year program, which produced a certificate of completion . Jackson chose the third option; he successfully completed the second-year courses, and received his certificate in 1912.

After his year at Albany Law School, Jackson returned to Jamestown to complete his studies. He attained admission to the bar in 1913 at age twenty-one, then joined a law practice in Jamestown. In 1916, he married Irene Alice Gerhardt, in Albany. In 1917, Jackson was recruited to work for Penney, Killeen & Nye, a leading Buffalo firm, primarily defending the International Railway Company in trials and appeals. In late 1918, Jackson was recruited back to Jamestown to serve as the city's corporation counsel .

Over the next 15 years, he built a successful practice, and became a leading lawyer in New York State; he also enhanced his reputation nationally, through leadership roles with bar associations and other legal organizations.

In 1930, Jackson was elected to membership in the American Law Institute; in 1933, he was elected Chairman of the American Bar Association's Conference of Bar Association Delegates (a predecessor to today's ABA House of Delegates).

Jackson became active in politic

…