Sherman Minton
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| Sherman Minton | |
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| In office October 12, 1949 – October 15, 1956 |
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| Nominated by | Harry S. Truman |
| Preceded by | Wiley Blount Rutledge |
| Succeeded by | William J. Brennan |
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| Born | October 20, 1890 Georgetown, Indiana |
| Died | April 9, 1965 New Albany, Indiana |
Sherman Minton, (October 20, 1890–April 9, 1965) was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana and an associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
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[edit] Pre-judicial career
A native of New Albany, Indiana, Minton went overseas to serve during World War I. After practicing law in New Albany for several years, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Indiana in the 1934 Democratic landslide.
Minton served in the U.S. Senate from 1935 until 1940. A staunch Democrat, he was a close ally of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Minton faithfully supported the New Deal and Roosevelt's “court-packing” plan, stands which cost him reelection in traditionally Republican Indiana in 1940.
[edit] Judicial career
Minton remained popular in Democratic Party circles for his party loyalty under political pressure, and Roosevelt appointed him to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in 1940. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman, who had served with Minton in the Senate, promoted Minton to the Supreme Court, where he succeeded the deceased Justice Wiley Rutledge.
On the Court, Minton, influenced by his disapproval of the pre-1937 Court, which had struck down many New Deal laws, took a broad view of governmental powers, dissenting in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), which ruled unconstitutional President Truman's wartime seizure of the steel mills in order to avert a strike. He disappointed liberals by voting to uphold anti-communist legislation during the period of the "red scare," voting with the majority in 1951's Dennis v. United States to uphold the conviction of the leader of the U.S. Communist Party. However, Minton abhorred racial segregation and provided a solid vote to strike down the school segregation practices at issue in 1954's Brown v. Board of Education.
The gregarious, backslapping Minton was popular among his colleagues on the Court, as he proved a soothing presence during a period on the Court marked by bitter personal feuds between strong personalities such as William O. Douglas and Felix Frankfurter. Minton did not, however, make much of a mark on the Court jurisprudentially. He served as a Justice until October 15, 1956, when he retired from the Court for reasons of ill health, particularly the effects of pernicious anemia, which he indicated had slowed him down both physically and mentally. For several years after retiring from the Supreme Court, Minton occasionally accepted assignments to serve temporarily on one of the lower federal courts.
[edit] Education
After attending the first high school established in the state of Indiana, he went on to attend and graduate from the law school of Indiana University in 1915 and completed graduate work at Yale University in 1916.
[edit] Recognition
Minton is the namesake of the Sherman Minton Bridge which carries Interstate 64 across the Ohio River, connecting western Louisville, Kentucky with Minton's native New Albany, Indiana. Minton is also the namesake of the annual Sherman Minton Moot Court Competition held at his alma mater, Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington. Sherman was born at the home located 9172 State Road 64, Georgetown, Indiana, 47122. A bronze plaque is mounted along the stone wall in front of the house in honor of his birthplace.
| Preceded by Arthur R. Robinson |
United States Senator (Class 1) from Indiana 1935-1941 |
Succeeded by Raymond E. Willis |
| Preceded by Walter Emanuel Treanor |
Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit 1941-1949 |
Succeeded by Walter C. Lindley |
| Preceded by Wiley Blount Rutledge |
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States October 12, 1949 – October 15, 1956 |
Succeeded by William J. Brennan |
| The Vinson Court |  |
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| 1949–1953: | H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | R.H. Jackson | H.H. Burton | T.C. Clark | S. Minton | |
| The Warren Court | ||
| 1953–1954: | H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | R.H. Jackson | H.H. Burton | T.C. Clark | S. Minton | |
| 1955–1956: | H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | H.H. Burton | T.C. Clark | S. Minton | J.M. Harlan II | |
