The Supreme Court of the United States represents the highest court in America, established under Article 3 of the U.S. Constitution. The Supreme Court has the final jurisdiction over all cases pertaining to the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the U.S. A chief justice and nine associate justices, appointed by the U.S. president, render decisions by majority vote. The Supreme Court has two main functions. The first is interpreting any acts of Congress. The second is to determine whether federal and state statutes are permissible under the Constitution. Under the leadership of Chief Justice Earl Warren, the Supreme Court maintained a fairly liberal activist stance. Major decisions included desegregation of schools under Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954) and protection of arrested individuals through the Miranda Act and other civil rights protections. This analysis will explore the members of the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Warren, also known as “Super Chief” among colleagues, in addition to reviewing some of its landmark cases and the movement to impeach Warren. A conclusion will discuss the relevance of some of these decisions to issues currently facing the Supreme Court.
Fifty years ago in March 1954, Earl Warren was confirmed as Chief Justice of the United States in what would amount to a sixteen year reign in the position widely considered one of the two great creative periods in American public law. During his sixteen year tenure as Chief Justice, two associate justices appointed to the Supreme Court before his leadership served with Warren while an additional eight associate justices were appointed after he became Chief Justice. The two justices already serving before Warren was appointed were Harold Hitz Burton and Tom Campbell Clark. Burton served from 1945-1958 and Campbell from 1949-1967. Burton was from Massachusetts and admitted to the bar in 1912. Burton received his law d...