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Supreme Court · Chief Justice

Earl Warren

Republican appointee: Appointed by Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)

Served 1953–1969 · 16 terms

Confirmed by voice vote

Biography

Earl Warren was an American attorney and politician who served as the 14th chief justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969 and as the 30th governor of California from 1943 to 1953.

Source: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ideology over time

Warren and the 16 justices who overlapped with Warren, 1953–1968

−8−6−4−20+2195519601965More conservativeMore liberalHarlanStewartClarkBlackWhiteBrennanFortasMarshallWarrenDouglas
  • Earl Warren
  • 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 Warren sits among all justices

Career average, every justice in the data set

−4−20+2+4−1.660.01

Warren’s range across terms

Served alongside Warren

16 justices

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

JusticeTogetherCareer avg
Abe Fortas1965–1968career average −1.32 versus Warren at −1.26Arthur Goldberg1962–1964career average −1.07 versus Warren at −1.26Hugo Black1953–1968career average −1.76 versus Warren at −1.26William Brennan1956–1968career average −1.78 versus Warren at −1.26Thurgood Marshall1967–1968career average −2.82 versus Warren at −1.26Stanley Reed1953–1956career average 0.37 versus Warren at −1.26Potter Stewart1958–1968career average 0.40 versus Warren at −1.26Byron White1961–1968career average 0.44 versus Warren at −1.26Tom Clark1953–1966career average 0.47 versus Warren at −1.26Felix Frankfurter1953–1961career average 0.52 versus Warren at −1.26Robert Jackson1953career average 0.70 versus Warren at −1.26Harold Burton1953–1958career average 1.00 versus Warren at −1.26Sherman Minton1953–1956career average 1.10 versus Warren at −1.26Charles Whittaker1956–1961career average 1.17 versus Warren at −1.26John Harlan1954–1968career average 1.62 versus Warren at −1.26William Douglas1953–1968career average −4.70 versus Warren at −1.26

How Warren voted

Every argued case Warren took part in, newest first, with how Warren 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.