Scholarship@WashULaw

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2016

Publication Title

Washington University Law Review

Abstract

The great importance Justice John Paul Stevens attaches to his bonds with former colleagues has long shone through his words and actions. Anyone who knows Justice Stevens knows of his deep admiration for his former boss, Justice Wiley Rutledge, whose deep ties to Washington University Justice Stevens emphasized in his recent remarks here.' During the year I had the privilege of serving as one of Justice Stevens' law clerks, retired Chief Justice Warren Burger passed away. A few days after Chief Justice Burger's death, Justice Stevens announced a decision from the bench. He revised his explanation of the majority's reasoning to incorporate a key precedent authored by Chief Justice Burger, whom Justice Stevens made a point of honoring by name. Of the very few other American jurists who approach Justice Stevens' achievements and renown, surely none ever wrote a first book that focused not on themselves or their views about the law but on other people. In Five Chiefs,2 Justice Stevens did just that, building his narrative around the five leaders of the Supreme Court, from Fred Vinson through John Roberts Jr., whom he knew as a law clerk, advocate, and justice.

Keywords

John Paul Stevens, Antonin Scalia, United States Supreme Court, Liberalism, Conservatism, Methodological Eclecticism

Publication Citation

Gregory P. Magarian, Bookends: Justice Stevens and Justice Scalia, 94 Wash. U. L. Rev. 1401 (2016)

Comments

Washington University Law Sesquicentennial: A Tribute to Justice John Paul Stevens

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