Warren E. Burger

Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986.

Burger was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1907, as one of seven children.

His parents, Katharine (née Schnittger) and Charles Joseph Burger, a traveling salesman and railroad cargo inspector, were of Austrian German descent.

He was raised Presbyterian.

His grandfather, Joseph Burger, was born in Bludenz, Vorarlberg, had emigrated from Tyrol, Austria and joined the Union Army when he was 13.

Joseph Burger fought and was wounded in the Civil War, resulting in the loss of his right arm and was awarded the Medal of Honor at the age of 14.

At age 16, Joseph Burger became one of the youngest captains in the Union Army.

Burger grew up on the family farm near the edge of Saint Paul.

At age 8, he stayed home from school for a year after contracting polio.

He attended John A. Johnson High School, where he was president of the student council.

He competed in hockey, football, track, and swimming.

While in high school, he wrote articles on high school sports for local newspapers.

He graduated in 1925, and received a partial scholarship to attend Princeton University, which he declined because his family's finances were not sufficient to cover the remainder of his expenses.

That same year, Burger also worked with the crew building the Robert Street Bridge, a crossing of the Mississippi River in Saint Paul that still exists.

Concerned about the number of deaths on the project, he asked that a net be installed to catch anyone who fell, but was rebuffed by managers.

In later years, Burger made a point of visiting the bridge whenever he came back to town.

Burger enrolled in extension classes at the University of Minnesota for two years while selling insurance for Mutual Life Insurance.

Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul College of Law in 1931.

Afterward, he enrolled at St. Paul College of Law (which later became William Mitchell College of Law, now Mitchell Hamline School of Law), receiving his Bachelor of Laws, magna cum laude, in 1931.

He took a job at a St. Paul law firm.

In 1937, Burger served as the eighth president of the Saint Paul Jaycees.

He also taught for twelve years at William Mitchell.

A spinal condition prevented Burger from serving in the military during World War II; instead he supported the war effort at home, including service on Minnesota's emergency war labor board from 1942 to 1947.

He helped secure the Minnesota delegation's support for Dwight D. Eisenhower at the 1952 Republican National Convention.

After Eisenhower won the 1952 presidential election, he appointed Burger to the position of Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Division.

In 1956, Eisenhower appointed Burger to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Burger served on this court until 1969 and became known as a critic of the Warren Court.

In 1969, President Richard Nixon nominated Burger to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice, and Burger won Senate confirmation with little opposition.

He did not emerge as a strong intellectual force on the Court, but sought to improve the administration of the federal judiciary.

He also helped establish the National Center for State Courts and the Supreme Court Historical Society.

He was succeeded as Chief Justice by William H. Rehnquist, who had served as an associate justice since 1972.

In 1974, Burger wrote for a unanimous court in United States v. Nixon, which rejected Nixon's invocation of executive privilege in the wake of the Watergate scandal.

The ruling played a major role in Nixon's resignation.

Burger joined the majority in Roe v. Wade in holding that the right to privacy prohibited states from banning abortions.

Later analyses have suggested that Burger joined the majority in Roe solely to prevent Justice William O. Douglas from controlling assignment of the opinion.

On the contrary, Burger would vote with the majority in Harris v. McRae in 1980, which formally launched the Hyde Amendment into effect.

Although too late, he later abandoned Roe v. Wade in Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

His majority opinion in INS v. Chadha struck down the one-house legislative veto.

Although Burger was nominated by a conservative president, the Burger Court also delivered some of the most liberal decisions regarding abortion, capital punishment, religious establishment, sex discrimination, and school desegregation during his tenure.

Burger remained on the Court until his retirement in 1986, when he became Chairman of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution.