WARREN BURGER
Chief Justice (1969 - 1986)
QUICK FACTS
APPOINTED BY
Richard Nixon
PRECEDED BY
BIRTHPLACE
Minnesota
SWORN IN
June 23, 1969
SUCCEEDED BY
LAW SCHOOL
St. Paul College of Law
Burger in his graduation regalia for the St. Paul College of Law (1931) | Credit: Ohio State University
Personal Life and Education
Warren Burger was born on September 17, 1907 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Burger was the youngest of seven children. His parents, Katharine and Charles Joseph Burger, were both of Austrian descent. His father was a traveling salesman and railroad cargo inspector. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Burger, immigrated from Austria and joined the Union Army at 13 years old. Joseph was wounded and lost his right arm, but he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism when he was just 14.
Burger grew up on his family’s farm and by age 9 was helping with the family’s finances by delivering newspapers. Burger attended elementary school with Harry Blackmun, a future colleague on the Supreme Court. Burger attended John A. Johnson High School, where he was elected president of the student council and competed in hockey, football, track, and swimming. In high school, Burger also wrote sports articles for the local newspaper. Burger graduated in 1925 and was offered a partial scholarship to Princeton, but declined it because his family couldn’t afford the rest of the cost to attend. The same year he graduated, Burger helped to construct the Robert Street Bridge in St. Paul, which still stands today.
After high school, Burger took night classes at the University of Minnesota for two years while working as an insurance salesman for Mutual Life Insurance. Burger then enrolled at the St. Paul College of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude in 1931.
Burger delivering keynote address at the Dedication of the Norton Clapp Law Center (1980) | Credit: Seattle School of Law
Early Career
After graduating from law school in 1931, Burger took a job at a prominent law firm in St. Paul. He remained at the firm until 1953. At the same time, Burger was appointed to the faculty at St. Paul College of Law, where he taught night classes as an adjunct professor until 1946. While a spinal injury prevented Burger from serving in World War II, he served on Minnesota’s Emergency War Labor Board from 1942 to 1947. From 1948 to 1953, Burger served on the Minnesota Governor’s interracial commission, which focused on desegregation.
Burger played an active role in the gubernatorial campaigns of Republican Harold Stassen in 1938, 1940, and 1942. At the 1952, Republican National Convention, Burger swayed the votes of the Minnesota delegation in favor of Dwight Eisenhower, ultimately helping him secure the nomination for president.
After Eisenhower took office in 1953, Burger was appointed Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division of the Justice Department. On January 12, 1956, Eisenhower nominated Burger to fill a vacant seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He was confirmed by the Senate on March 28 of that year.
President Nixon announcing his nomination of Burger to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice | Credit: Nixon White House Photographs (Public Domain)
Nomination to the Supreme Court
In June of 1968, Chief Justice Earl Warren announced his intent to retire upon the confirmation of his successor. President Lyndon Johnson initially nominated Associate Justice Abe Fortas, but his nomination was filibustered in the Senate due to allegations of corruption against Fortas. Johnson ultimately withdrew the nomination.
Due to the timing of Warren’s retirement, the vacancy created on the Court became an important issue in the 1969 presidential campaign, with then-candidate Richard Nixon promising to appoint a strict constiutionalist. Nixon was inaugurated in January of 1969, and on May 23, he announced his nomination of Burger to be the next Chief Justice. Burger’s hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee took place on June 3, and he was confirmed by the Senate on June 9 in a 74-3 vote. Burger was sworn in as the 15th Chief Justice on June 23, 1969.
What the Court looked like during Chief Justice Burger’s tenure.
