Person:Edward White (53)

     
Edward Douglass White, Jr., 9th Chief Justice of the United States
  1. Edward Douglass White, Jr., 9th Chief Justice of the United States1845 - 1921
m. 6 Nov 1894
Facts and Events
Name[1] Edward Douglass White, Jr., 9th Chief Justice of the United States
Gender Male
Birth[1][2] 3 Nov 1845 Thibodauxville, Lafourche, Louisiana, United Statesat Edward Douglass White House
Census[3] 1870 New Orleans, Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Occupation[1][2] 19 Feb 1894 Washington, District of Columbia, United Statesappointment to Supreme Court confirmed
Marriage 6 Nov 1894 New York City, New York, United States[she is the widow Kent]
to Virginia Leita Montgomery
Occupation[2] 12 Dec 1910 Washington, District of Columbia, United Statesnomination confirmed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
Death[1][2] 19 May 1921 Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Burial[1][2] Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Other[1] Q706463?
Religion[1] Roman Catholic

Biography

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

Edward Douglass White Jr. (November 3, 1845 – May 19, 1921) was an American politician and jurist from Louisiana. White was a U.S. Supreme Court justice for 27 years, first as an associate justice from 1894 to 1910, then as the ninth chief justice from 1910 until his death in 1921. White is known for formulating the Rule of Reason standard of antitrust law.

Born in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, White practiced law in New Orleans after graduating from the University of Louisiana. He also attended the College of the Immaculate Conception, present-day Jesuit High School in New Orleans, class of 1865. His father, Edward Douglass White Sr., was the 10th Governor of Louisiana and a Whig US Representative. White fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War and was captured in 1865. After the war, White won election to the Louisiana State Senate and served on the Louisiana Supreme Court. As a member of the Democratic Party, White represented Louisiana in the United States Senate from 1891 to 1894.

In 1894, President Grover Cleveland appointed White as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1910, President William Howard Taft elevated him to the position of chief justice. The appointment surprised many contemporaries, as Taft was a member of the Republican Party. White served as chief justice until his death in 1921 when he was succeeded by Taft.

He sided with the Supreme Court majority in Plessy v. Ferguson, which upheld the legality of state segregation to provide "separate but equal" public facilities in the United States, despite protections of the Fourteenth Amendment to equal protection of the laws. In one of several challenges to Southern states' grandfather clauses, used to disfranchise African-American voters at the turn of the century, he wrote for a unanimous court in Guinn v. United States, which struck many of them down. He also wrote the opinion in the Selective Draft Law Cases, which upheld the constitutionality of conscription.


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References
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Edward Douglass White, in Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia
    last accessed Jan 2017.

    Edward Douglass White, Jr. (November 3, 1845 – May 19, 1921), American politician and jurist, was a United States senator, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court and the ninth Chief Justice of the United States, serving 1910-1921. He was best known for formulating the Rule of Reason standard of antitrust law. ...

    In 1910, [White] was elevated by President William Howard Taft to the position of Chief Justice of the United States upon the death of Melville Fuller. At the time, his was a controversial appointment: first, White was a Democrat while Taft was a Republican. The media of the day widely expected Taft to name Republican Justice Charles Evans Hughes to the post. Second, White was the first Associate Justice to be appointed as Chief Justice since John Rutledge in 1795. Some historians believe that President Taft appointed White, who was 65 years old at the time and overweight, in the hope that White would not serve all that long and that Taft himself might be appointed to succeed him. Following White's death in 1921, Taft was indeed appointed as his successor, making White the only Chief Justice to be followed in office by the president who appointed him.

    White was generally seen as one of the more conservative members of the court. He originated the term, the “Rule of Reason". But, White also wrote the 1916 decision upholding the constitutionality of the Adamson Act, which mandated a maximum eight-hour work day for railroad employees.

    As Chief Justice at a time when the Court's work was carried out with more than 8,000 cases brought each year before the court, and only a few clerks to work for all the members of the Court, the Chief Justice held weekly meetings with fellow jurists, assigned all the cases and wrote the majority opinions in 711 cases, as well as 155 dissenting opinions, all opposing income taxes. White wrote for a unanimous Court in Guinn v. United States (1915), which invalidated the Oklahoma and Maryland grandfather clauses (and, by extension, those in other Southern states) as "repugnant to the Fifteenth Amendment and therefore null and void" But, Southern states quickly devised other methods to continue their disfranchisement of blacks (and in some cases, many poor whites) that withstood Court scrutiny.

    In 1918, the Selective Draft Law Cases upheld the Selective Service Act of 1917, and more generally, upheld conscription in the United States, which President Taft said was "one of his great opinions."

    As Chief Justice, White swore in presidents Woodrow Wilson (twice) and Warren G. Harding.. . .

  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Edward Douglass White, Memorial# 5581, Created Jun 02, 1999, Maintained by: Find A Grave, in Find A Grave
    accessed 8 Jan 2017.

    Birth: Nov. 3, 1845, Thibodaux, Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, USA
    Death: May 19, 1921, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
    Burial: Oak Hill Cemetery , Washington, District Of Columbia, USA
    Plot: Stewart, Lot 600 East

    United States Supreme Court Chief Justice. White was studying at Georgetown College, when he joined the Confederate Army at the start of the Civil War. In 1863, he was captured by Union troops and remained in captivity until the end of the war. After the war, he studied law at the University of Louisiana, was admitted to the bar in 1866 and established a law practice in New Orleans. Elected to the Louisiana State Senate, he served (1874, 1878-80) and served on the Louisiana Supreme Court. In 1891, he was elected to the US Senate and President Grover Cleveland nominated White to the Supreme Court of the United States on February 19, 1894. He had served for sixteen years on the Court when President William H. Taft nominated him the 9th Chief Justice of the United States on December 12, 1910. White served on the Court for a total of twenty-six years, ten of them as Chief Justice, when he died in office at age 75. (bio by: John "J-Cat" Griffith)

    Parents: Edward Douglass White (1795 - 1847), Catherine Sidney Lee Ringgold Brousseau (1817 - 1885)
    Spouse: Leita Montgomery White (1852 - 1934)*
    Siblings: Susan Philomene White (1838 - 1914), James White (1841 - 1917). Eliza Lee White (1842 - 1912), Mary Sidney White (1846 - 1866)
    Half-siblings: Andre Ringgold Brousseau (1851 - 1902), Thomas Antony Brousseau (1851 - 1864), Mary Alice Brousseau (1852 - 1861

  3. New Orleans Ward 6, in Orleans, Louisiana, United States. 1870 U.S. Census Population Schedule
    HH 1073, Fam 1591.

    Brousseau, Andre, 58, R. dealer in Carpets, RE = $22,000, PE = $8,000, b. Canada
    , Sidney (f), 52, keeping house, b. DC
    , Andre, 20, clerk in store, b. LA
    White, Edward Douglas, 26, Lawyer, b. LA
    , Susan P., 30, at home, b. LA
    , Eliza L., 28, at home, b. LA
    3 servants