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Supreme Court · Associate Justice

Byron White

Democratic appointee: Appointed by John F. Kennedy (D)

Served 1962–1993 · 32 terms

Confirmed by voice vote

Biography

Byron Raymond "Whizzer" White was an American lawyer and professional football halfback who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1962 to 1993. At the time of his retirement, he was the Supreme Court's only sitting justice appointed by a Democrat and the last-living member of the progressive Warren Court.

Source: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Ideology over time

White and the 22 justices who overlapped with White, 1961–1992

−8−6−4−20+2+4196519701975198019851990More conservativeMore liberalThomasScaliaBurgerRehnquistKennedyPowellO'ConnorHarlanStewartWhiteSouterBlackBlackmunStevensBrennanMarshallDouglas
  • Byron White
  • 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 White sits among all justices

Career average, every justice in the data set

−4−20+2+4−0.321.29

White’s range across terms

Served alongside White

22 justices

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

JusticeTogetherCareer avg
Tom Clark1961–1966career average 0.47 versus White at 0.44Potter Stewart1961–1980career average 0.40 versus White at 0.44Felix Frankfurter1961career average 0.52 versus White at 0.44Anthony Kennedy1987–1992career average 0.68 versus White at 0.44Harry Blackmun1969–1992career average −0.03 versus White at 0.44Lewis Powell1971–1986career average 0.97 versus White at 0.44Sandra O'Connor1981–1992career average 1.02 versus White at 0.44Charles Whittaker1961career average 1.17 versus White at 0.44John Harlan1961–1970career average 1.62 versus White at 0.44David Souter1990–1992career average −0.77 versus White at 0.44Warren Burger1969–1985career average 1.89 versus White at 0.44Arthur Goldberg1962–1964career average −1.07 versus White at 0.44Earl Warren1961–1968career average −1.26 versus White at 0.44Abe Fortas1965–1968career average −1.32 versus White at 0.44Antonin Scalia1986–1992career average 2.50 versus White at 0.44Hugo Black1961–1970career average −1.76 versus White at 0.44William Brennan1961–1989career average −1.78 versus White at 0.44John Stevens1975–1992career average −1.81 versus White at 0.44William Rehnquist1971–1992career average 2.97 versus White at 0.44Clarence Thomas1991–1992career average 3.40 versus White at 0.44Thurgood Marshall1967–1990career average −2.82 versus White at 0.44William Douglas1961–1975career average −4.70 versus White at 0.44

How White voted

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