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Supreme Court · Associate Justice

Hugo Black

Democratic appointee: Appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)

Served 1937–1971 · 34 terms

Confirmed 63–16

Biography

Hugo Lafayette Black was an American lawyer, politician, and jurist who served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 1927 to 1937 and as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. A member of the Democratic Party and a devoted New Dealer, Black endorsed Franklin D. Roosevelt in both the 1932 and 1936 presidential elections.

Source: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ideology over time

Black and the 30 justices who overlapped with Black, 1937–1970

−8−6−4−20+2+41940194519501955196019651970More conservativeMore liberalBurgerFrankfurterBlackmunBurtonR. JacksonReedHarlanStewartWhiteClarkBlackMarshallBrennanWarrenMurphyDouglas
  • Hugo Black
  • 95% credible interval
  • Peer, appointed by a Democrat
  • Peer, appointed by a Republican
  • Court median
How to read this

Martin–Quinn scores place each justice on a single liberal–conservative dimension, estimated from their votes across terms, with scores allowed to shift from one term to the next. Higher is more conservative. The shaded band is the credible interval: wider when the record is thin, especially in a justice’s first terms, and narrower as votes accumulate.

Where Black sits among all justices

Career average, every justice in the data set

−4−20+2+4−3.340.10

Black’s range across terms

Served alongside Black

30 justices

Closest career average first. Filled dot: the peer. Ring: Black.

JusticeTogetherCareer avg
William Brennan1956–1970career average −1.78 versus Black at −1.76Frank Murphy1939–1948career average −1.59 versus Black at −1.76Benjamin Cardozo1937career average −1.59 versus Black at −1.76Wiley Rutledge1942–1948career average −1.42 versus Black at −1.76Abe Fortas1965–1968career average −1.32 versus Black at −1.76Earl Warren1953–1968career average −1.26 versus Black at −1.76Arthur Goldberg1962–1964career average −1.07 versus Black at −1.76Thurgood Marshall1967–1970career average −2.82 versus Black at −1.76Louis Brandeis1937–1938career average −0.61 versus Black at −1.76James Byrnes1941career average −0.18 versus Black at −1.76Harry Blackmun1969–1970career average −0.03 versus Black at −1.76Harlan Stone1937–1945career average 0.01 versus Black at −1.76Charles Hughes1937–1940career average 0.19 versus Black at −1.76Stanley Reed1937–1956career average 0.37 versus Black at −1.76Potter Stewart1958–1970career average 0.40 versus Black at −1.76Byron White1961–1970career average 0.44 versus Black at −1.76Tom Clark1949–1966career average 0.47 versus Black at −1.76Felix Frankfurter1938–1961career average 0.52 versus Black at −1.76Robert Jackson1941–1953career average 0.70 versus Black at −1.76Harold Burton1945–1958career average 1.00 versus Black at −1.76Frederick Vinson1946–1952career average 1.03 versus Black at −1.76Sherman Minton1949–1956career average 1.10 versus Black at −1.76Charles Whittaker1956–1961career average 1.17 versus Black at −1.76William Douglas1938–1970career average −4.70 versus Black at −1.76Owen Roberts1937–1944career average 1.52 versus Black at −1.76George Sutherland1937career average 1.60 versus Black at −1.76John Harlan1954–1970career average 1.62 versus Black at −1.76Warren Burger1969–1970career average 1.89 versus Black at −1.76Pierce Butler1937–1938career average 2.23 versus Black at −1.76James McReynolds1937–1940career average 3.50 versus Black at −1.76

How Black voted

Every argued case Black took part in, newest first, with how Black voted in each: with the majority, in dissent, or in an equally divided Court. A Liberal or Conservative tag is the Supreme Court Database’s coding of who prevailed in the case, not a rating of the justices.

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    Data notes

    The Decisions page’s argued cases with this justice’s vote from the Supreme Court Database. “Majority” includes a concurrence; a vote that dissented in part is coded by the side the justice took overall. Cases the justice sat out and equally divided cases are left out of the percentages. “Wrote” means authored an opinion. Source: Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.).

    Report a correction

    Scores: Martin, Andrew D. and Kevin M. Quinn. 2002. “Dynamic Ideal Point Estimation via Markov Chain Monte Carlo for the U.S. Supreme Court, 1953–1999.” Political Analysis 10:134–153, from mqscores.wustl.edu. Appointment data: Federal Judicial Center biographical directory. Biographies: Wikipedia, text abridged, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Portraits: public-domain images via Wikimedia Commons.