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An alumnus of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Justice Potter Stewart of Ohio is the present Circuit Justice for his home Circuit. Although he was born in Jackson, Michigan, on January 23, 1915, his home has always been Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the son of the late Judge James Garfield Stewart and of Mrs. Harriet (Potter) Stewart.
After graduation from Yale College in 1937, Potter Stewart spent a year at Cambridge University in England on a Henry Fellowship. The following year he returned to Yale for his legal training. At the Yale Law School he was editor of the Law Journal, and he was graduated in 1941 at the top of his class.
During World War II he served more than three years of active sea duty as an officer in the United States Naval Reserve. After a brief period with a New York City law firm, he returned to Cincinnati to join a leading firm in the general practice of law. He served two terms on the Cincinnati City Council in the early 1950's, and was active in many organizations concerned with community and civic affairs.
In 1954 he was appointed by President Eisenhower to the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. At the time of his appointment he, at 39, was the youngest federal judge in the country. Four years later, President Eisenhower appointed him an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
The inheritance and tradition, Potter Stewart was destined to be an able lawyer and great jurist. His father had a distinguished career as a judge of the Supreme Court of Ohio. James Garfield Stewart also served as Mayor of Cincinnati and was a highly effective public speaker. The author heard him hold an audience of lawyers spellbound at a convention of the Tennessee Bar Association at Nashville in 1955.
The service of Circuit Judge Stewart on the Court of Appeals was marked by well-reasoned, readable opinions. For example, see John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co. v. Tarrence, 244 F.2d 86 (6th Cir. 1957); his concurring opinion in Clemons v. Board of Education of Hillsboro, 228 F.2d 853, 858 (6th Cir. 1956); and his dissent in NLRB v. Lannom Manufacturing Co., 226 F.2d 194, 199 (6th Cir. 1955). Several of his Court of Appeals tax opinions were included in law school text books.
Among his many leading Supreme Court opinions are Robinson v. California, 370 U.S. 660 (1962); Stanford v. Texas, 379 U.S. 476 (1965); Georgia v. Rachel, 384 U.S. 780 (1966); City of Greenwood v. Peacock, 384 U.S. 808 (1966); Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967); Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968); North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711 (1969); Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752 (1969); Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443 (1971); and Faretta v. California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975).
He married Mary Ann Bertles on April 23, 1943. They have three children, Mrs. Richard R. Virkstis, Potter Stewart, Jr., and David Bertles Stewart. Justice Stewart, who retired from active service on the Court effective July 3, 1981, died in Hanover, New Hampshire, on December 7, 1985. Services were held at the Washington Cathedral, Washington, D.C., prior to his interment in Arlington National Cemetery on December 11, 1985. |
