Of the 117 justices who have served on the United States Supreme Court, there have been nine from Ohio — 10 if you include Lincoln’s Secretary of War and Steubenville, Ohio, native, Edwin M. Stanton, who was nominated by fellow Ohioan U.S. Grant but died before taking office.
Of the 17 people who have served as Chief Justice of the United States (the correct title — not Chief Justice of the Supreme Court), there have been three from Ohio: Salmon P. Chase (1864-1873); Morrison Waite (1874-1888), appointed by Grant, and William Howard Taft (1921-1930), appointed by Ohioan Warren G. Harding.
These Ohio connections show the importance of Ohio in the history of American jurisprudence and its seminal role in national politics. The fact that Ohio sent eight of her native sons to the White House — six between 1869 and 1909 — accounts for some of the appointments.
But of all the Supreme Court Justices with Ohio roots, only one hails from Cleveland. He was Harold H. Burton, who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1945-1958.
Burton was not an Ohioan by birth. Born in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts, he grew up in Boston, where his father was the dean of the faculty at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After attending Bowdoin College — graduating summa com laude in 1909 — Burton went on to study law at Harvard. He served in the First World War and then moved to Cleveland to start his career as a lawyer.
Burton served in the Ohio House of Representatives before serving as Cleveland’s Chief Legal Counsel from 1929 to 1932. He was elected mayor in 1935 and reelected twice. In 1940 he easily won the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate and the general election. During his tenure as mayor, he was instrumental in bringing the Republican National Convention to Cleveland in 1936 — a first for the city. Cleveland would not host another GOP convention until 2016.
In 1944 a twist of fate sent Burton to the United States Supreme Court. Justice Robert Owens announced that he was retiring, giving President Harry Truman his first chance to nominate a Supreme Court Justice. Since Truman was a Democrat, the traditional lore was that Republicans need not apply — neither should women or minorities. But after 12 years of the Roosevelt administration, in which only Democrats had been appointed, Republicans were clamoring for a Republican justice.
Truman, ever the political strategist, knew that he needed bipartisan support to get his legislative package through Congress. So he decided to appoint Burton, who was a friend and had served with Truman in the Senate. But there was more than friendship and goodwill in Truman’s decision. Ohio was a swing state. In addition to gaining favor with congressional Republicans, Burton’s appointment would open a seat in the United States Senate. With a Democratic governor in Columbus — Frank Lausche — Truman knew that a Democrat would get the senate seat, thereby gaining another Democratic vote in the Senate.
Unlike today’s politics surrounding the nomination and confirmation of a Justice of the Supreme Court, Burton was confirmed within days of his nomination. The Senate Judiciary Committee heard no testimony, and the full Senate approved the appointment unanimously. Burton was the last sitting member of the US. Senate to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
He was sworn in on October 1, 1945, and served until October 13, 1958, stepping down due to his battle with Parkinson’s Disease. He died in 1964 and is buried in Highland Cemetery.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower, named another Ohioan, Potter Stewart from Cincinnati, to succeed Burton. Stewart served until 1981, becoming the last Ohioan to serve on the Supreme Court. He was succeeded by the first woman justice, Justice Sandra Day O’Conner.
The only other nexus Cleveland has to the high court is Associate Justice Antonin Scalia. Scalia began his legal career at the Cleveland Law Firm of Jones, Day, Reavis and Pogue and worked there from 1961-1967.
United State Supreme Court – Ohio Trivia
The first Republican appointed to the United States Supreme Court was Ohioan Noah H. Swayne, appointed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1862.
The first time two justices from the same state sat on the high court was in 1864. That year President Lincoln appointed Ohioan Salmon P. Chase to serve as Chief Justice. He joined fellow Ohioan Noah Swayne. Prior to that time there was a belief that no state should have more than one justice at a time.
Ohioan William Howard Taft was the only person ever to serve as President of the United States and Chief Justice of the United States.
Of the 117 justices of the Supreme Court, 22 were appointed by Ohio Presidents.
C. Ellen Connally is a retired judge of the Cleveland Municipal Court. From 2010 to 2014 she served as the President of the Cuyahoga County Council. An avid reader and student of American history, she serves on the Board of the Ohio History Connection, is currently vice president of the Cuyahoga County Soldiers and Sailors Monument Commission and president of the Cleveland Civil War Round Table. She holds degrees from BGSU, CSU and is all but dissertation for a PhD from the University of Akron.
One Response to “COMMENTARY: Cleveland’s Connection to the United States Supreme Court By C. Ellen Connally”
Charles Clark
Didn’t Cleveland also host the 1924 Republican National Convention?