Changes

Warren was an activist judge who pushed for a liberal interpretation of the [[Constitution]] and more powerful role for the judiciary.  Under his leadership, the [[Warren Court]] repeatedly ruled in favor of criminals and against [[prayer]] in school.

Warren was an activist judge who pushed for a liberal interpretation of the [[Constitution]] and more powerful role for the judiciary.  Under his leadership, the [[Warren Court]] repeatedly ruled in favor of criminals and against [[prayer]] in school.

==Early Professional Life==

==Early Professional Life==

In June 1968, Warren, fearing that Nixon would be elected president that year, worked out a retirement deal with President Johnson. Associate Justice [[Abe Fortas]], who was secretly Johnson's top adviser, brokered the deal in which Fortas would become chief justice. The plan was foiled by the Senate, which ripped into Fortas's record and refused to confirm him.  In 1969 Warren learned that Fortas had made a secret lifetime contract for $20,000 a year to provide private legal advice to Louis Wolfson, a friend and financier in deep legal trouble; Warren immediately demanded and got Fortas' resignation.<ref>Artemus.Ward, "An Extraconstitutional Arrangement: Lyndon Johnson and the Fall of the Warren Court" ''White House Studies'' 2002 2(2): 171-183</ref>  Warren presided over the Court's October 1968 term and retired in spring 1969; Nixon named Warren E. Burger to succeed him.  

In June 1968, Warren, fearing that Nixon would be elected president that year, worked out a retirement deal with President Johnson. Associate Justice [[Abe Fortas]], who was secretly Johnson's top adviser, brokered the deal in which Fortas would become chief justice. The plan was foiled by the Senate, which ripped into Fortas's record and refused to confirm him.  In 1969 Warren learned that Fortas had made a secret lifetime contract for $20,000 a year to provide private legal advice to Louis Wolfson, a friend and financier in deep legal trouble; Warren immediately demanded and got Fortas' resignation.<ref>Artemus.Ward, "An Extraconstitutional Arrangement: Lyndon Johnson and the Fall of the Warren Court" ''White House Studies'' 2002 2(2): 171-183</ref>  Warren presided over the Court's October 1968 term and retired in spring 1969; Nixon named Warren E. Burger to succeed him.  

Scholars agree that as a judge, Warren does not rank with intellectual giants such as [[Louis Brandeis]], Black, Brennan or [[William Rehnquist]] in terms of jurisprudence. His opinions were not always clearly written, and his legal logic was often muddled. His strength lay in his clear vision that the Constitution embodied natural rights that could not be denied to the citizenry and that the Supreme Court had a special role in protecting those rights.  

Scholars agree that as a judge, Warren does not rank with intellectual giants such as [[Louis Brandeis]] or [[William Rehnquist]] in terms of jurisprudence. His opinions were not always clearly written, and his legal logic was often muddled. His influence lay in his political maneuvering and his belief in [[judicial supremacy]] for the Supreme Court rather than Congress to establish new rights.

[[American conservatism|Conservatives]] attacked his judicial activism as inappropriate and have called for courts to be deferential to the elected political branches. Liberals who admit that the Warren Court went too far in some areas, insist that most of its controversial decisions struck a responsive chord in the nation and have become embedded in the law.   

[[American conservatism|Conservatives]] attacked his judicial activism as inappropriate and have called for courts to be deferential to the elected political branches. Liberals who admit that the Warren Court went too far in some areas, insist that most of its controversial decisions struck a responsive chord in the nation and have become embedded in the law.