November 28, 1975 – John Paul Stevens Nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court

John Paul Stevens sat as Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from December 19, 1975 until his retirement on June 29, 2010. Stevens served with three Chief Justices during his time on the Court: Warren E. Burger, William Rehnquist, and John G. Roberts.

At the time of his retirement, he was the oldest justice then serving, the second-oldest serving justice in the history of the Court, and the third-longest serving Supreme Court Justice in history. He was nominated on this day in history by President Gerald Ford to replace the Court’s longest-serving justice, William O. Douglas.

John Paul Stevens was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Gerald Ford in 1975 and confirmed by a 98-0 Senate vote. Here, he pauses during his confirmation hearing testimony. Via AP

Stevens was born into a wealthy family in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. In 1933, his father, uncle, and grandfather were all indicted on embezzlement charges. His father was eventually acquitted, but lost the family business. Stevens, nevertheless, or in spite of, the family travails, excelled in school; served in the Navy as a codebreaker during World War II (for which he was awarded a bronze star); and went on to law school afterwards. He graduated from Northwestern Law School magna cum laude with the highest GPA in the law school’s history.

Stevens gained a reputation as a talented antitrust lawyer and was invited to teach at the law schools at both Northwestern University and the University of Chicago. He also held several positions as special counsel to the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Attorney General’s office.

In 1970, President Nixon appointed Justice Stevens to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Five years later, Stevens was elevated to Supreme Court when Justice William Douglas stepped down. Although appointed by a Republican, over time Justice Stevens emerged as a leader for the Court’s liberal wing. Among other notable contributions, he dissented on the Citizens United case (No. 08–205, January 21, 2010) (joined by Justice Ginsburg, Justice Breyer, and Justice Sotomayor, concurring in part and dissenting in part), a decision which opened the door to unlimited corporate campaign spending, opining, as he summarized it later, that “while money is used to finance speech, money is not speech.”

Since leaving the court (at age 90!), Stevens has written books; regular columns for “The New York Review of Books”; and has spoken before many legal and lay audiences. In particular, he has advocated for some constitutional revisions, as he wrote in his 2014 book Six Amendments, How and Why We Should Change The Constitution. They include abolishing the death penalty, and reinterpreting the Second Amendment. As he has stated many times about the Second Amendment (see for example, this interview): “It was enacted for the states to be able to provide arms for their militias. And it was not intended to give private citizens who do not serve in the militia any right to bear arms.”

Retired Justice John Paul Stevens in 2014