Byron Raymond White
White, Byron Raymond,
1917–2002, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1962–93), b. Fort Collins, Colo. An All-America football player nicknamed "Whizzer" who later starred as a professional, White was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa at the Univ. of Colorado, from which he graduated as valedictorian in 1938. He then went to Oxford as a Rhodes scholar (1939–40), and received his law degree at Yale in 1946 after serving in the navy in World War II. White served (1946–47) as law clerk for Chief Justice Frederick VinsonVinson, Frederick Moore,1890–1953, 13th chief justice of the United States (1946–53), b. Louisa, Ky. He received his law degree from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky (1911). He served (1923–29, 1931–38) in the U.S.
..... Click the link for more information. before going to Denver to practice corporate law. He supported John F. KennedyKennedy, John Fitzgerald,
1917–63, 35th President of the United States (1961–63), b. Brookline, Mass.; son of Joseph P. Kennedy. Early Life
While an undergraduate at Harvard (1936–40) he served briefly in London as secretary to his father, who was
..... Click the link for more information. for the presidency in 1960, and was appointed deputy attorney general in 1961. In 1962, Kennedy named him to succeed Charles E. WhittakerWhittaker, Charles Evans,
1901–73, associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1957–62), b. Troy, Kans. He received his law degree from the Univ. of Kansas City in 1924 and practiced law for many years. He served as judge of the U.S.
..... Click the link for more information. on the Supreme Court. After President Nixon's conservative appointments to the court, White became known as a "swing" justice, generally voting with the liberals on civil-rights cases, but with the conservatives on personal liberty and criminal-justice issues. He was one of two justices to dissent from the Roe v. WadeRoe v. Wade,
case decided in 1973 by the U.S. Supreme Court. Along with Doe v. Bolton, this decision legalized abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.
..... Click the link for more information. (1973) abortion decision, and in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) he wrote a decision that upheld Georgia's sodomy statutes. White retired from the Court in 1993.
Bibliography
See D. J. Hutchinson, The Man Who Once Was Whizzer White (1998).