Warren, Earl

Warren, Earl (b. 19 Mar. 1891, d. 19 July 1974). Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court 1953–69 One of the most liberal Chief Justices, who presided over the Supreme Court's refashioning of US civil rights in the 1960s. Born in Los Angeles as the son of a Californian railroad worker, he obtained a BA from the University of California in 1912, gained his JD in 1914, and was also awarded an LL D in that year. He became Attorney-General of California (1938) and then Governor in 1943 (until 1952). In 1948 Thomas E. Dewey chose him to serve as his Republican vice-presidential candidate. In 1953 Eisenhower appointed him Chief Justice in the expectation that he would be a moderate conservative influence on the court. In fact, he presided over the decisions which outlawed segregation, increased the rights of defendants (Miranda v. Arizona), curtailed the powers of federal investigators, and reformed the criminal system with the application of the Fourteenth Amendment ‘due process’ clause of the Constitution. Under his direction, the Court also established a right to privacy in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965). Warren's court used the First, Third, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Constitutional Amendments to alter the political and social landscape of America. He also chaired the Warren Commission, which investigated the murder of John F. Kennedy.

Civil Rights Acts