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| | Justice Robert Jackson was perhaps the finest Supreme Court jurist of the 20th century, despite having never attended college or having a law degree. He was widely known to be a brilliant, [[conservative]] judge. | | Justice Robert Jackson was perhaps the finest Supreme Court jurist of the 20th century, despite having never attended college or having a law degree. He was widely known to be a brilliant, [[conservative]] judge. |
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| | + | Many of the most-quoted statements in the history of the Supreme Court were made by Justice Jackson, such as: |
| | + | {{cquote|Those who begin coercive elimination of dissent soon find themselves exterminating dissenters. Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.<ref>''W. Va. State Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette'', 319 U.S. 624, 641 (1943).</ref>}} |
| | + | {{cquote|We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final.<ref>''Brown v. Allen'', 344 U.S. 443, 540 (1953) (Jackson, J., concurring).</ref>}} |
| | He also served as the Chief United States Prosecutor at the [[Nuremberg Trials]] at the end of [[World War II]], in Germany. President [[Harry S. Truman]] appointed Jackson in 1945, who took a leave of absence from the Court, returning in 1946. Before becoming a Supreme Court Justice, Jackson had been brought to [[Washington, D.C.]] by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] as General Counsel to the then-Bureau of Internal Revenue, and subsequently served as Assistant Attorney General in the AntiTrust Division of the Justice Department, Solicitor General, and Attorney General.<ref>http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/speeches/sp_05-16-03.html</ref> | | He also served as the Chief United States Prosecutor at the [[Nuremberg Trials]] at the end of [[World War II]], in Germany. President [[Harry S. Truman]] appointed Jackson in 1945, who took a leave of absence from the Court, returning in 1946. Before becoming a Supreme Court Justice, Jackson had been brought to [[Washington, D.C.]] by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] as General Counsel to the then-Bureau of Internal Revenue, and subsequently served as Assistant Attorney General in the AntiTrust Division of the Justice Department, Solicitor General, and Attorney General.<ref>http://www.supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/speeches/sp_05-16-03.html</ref> |
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| | ::If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. ... The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the Courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections." | | ::If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. ... The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the Courts. One's right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections." |
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| − | Another oft-quoted statement by Justice Jackson is this: "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final." ''Brown v. Allen'', 344 U.S. 443, 540 (1953) (Jackson, J., concurring).
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| | Justice Jackson's most lasting influence is his delineation of the scope of presidential power in his concurrence in the [[Steel Seizure Case]], which has become the standard for judicial review of the extent of presidential power. | | Justice Jackson's most lasting influence is his delineation of the scope of presidential power in his concurrence in the [[Steel Seizure Case]], which has become the standard for judicial review of the extent of presidential power. |