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Supreme Court · Associate Justice

John Harlan

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

Served 1955–1971 · 17 terms

Confirmed 71–11

Biography

John Marshall Harlan was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971. Harlan is usually called John Marshall Harlan II to distinguish him from his grandfather, John Marshall Harlan, who served on the U.S. Supreme Court from 1877 to 1911.

Source: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ideology over time

Harlan and the 17 justices who overlapped with Harlan, 1954–1970

−8−6−4−20+2+41955196019651970More conservativeMore liberalBurgerBlackmunHarlanStewartWhiteClarkBlackMarshallBrennanWarrenDouglas
  • John Harlan
  • 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 Harlan sits among all justices

Career average, every justice in the data set

−4−20+2+40.702.67

Harlan’s range across terms

Served alongside Harlan

17 justices

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

JusticeTogetherCareer avg
Warren Burger1969–1970career average 1.89 versus Harlan at 1.62Charles Whittaker1956–1961career average 1.17 versus Harlan at 1.62Sherman Minton1954–1956career average 1.10 versus Harlan at 1.62Harold Burton1954–1958career average 1.00 versus Harlan at 1.62Felix Frankfurter1954–1961career average 0.52 versus Harlan at 1.62Tom Clark1954–1966career average 0.47 versus Harlan at 1.62Byron White1961–1970career average 0.44 versus Harlan at 1.62Potter Stewart1958–1970career average 0.40 versus Harlan at 1.62Stanley Reed1954–1956career average 0.37 versus Harlan at 1.62Harry Blackmun1969–1970career average −0.03 versus Harlan at 1.62Arthur Goldberg1962–1964career average −1.07 versus Harlan at 1.62Earl Warren1954–1968career average −1.26 versus Harlan at 1.62Abe Fortas1965–1968career average −1.32 versus Harlan at 1.62Hugo Black1954–1970career average −1.76 versus Harlan at 1.62William Brennan1956–1970career average −1.78 versus Harlan at 1.62Thurgood Marshall1967–1970career average −2.82 versus Harlan at 1.62William Douglas1954–1970career average −4.70 versus Harlan at 1.62

How Harlan voted

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