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* Born: 19 March 1891
* Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
* Died: 9 July 1974
* Best Known As: Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court,
1953-69
Earl Warren was a Republican attorney and politician who
served as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court
during a period of expanding civil rights and civil liberties.
Warren was raised in central California and earned his
undergraduate and law degrees from the University of
California at Berkeley. During his career he served as the
district attorney for California's Alameda County (1925-39),
California's attorney general (1939-43) and governor of
California (1943-53) before running as a candidate for vice
president in Thomas Dewey's 1948 bid to unseat Harry S.
Truman. Warren sought the presidential nomination in 1952, but
lost out to Dwight D. Eisenhower. Within a year of the
election, President Eisenhower nominated Warren for the
Supreme Court and Warren, who had no prior judicial
experience, was sworn in as Chief Justice on 5 October 1953.
During his tenure, the Supreme Court ruled on a number of
cases involving civil rights, including 1954's Brown v. Board
of Education and 1966's Miranda v. Arizona. The Warren Court
ruled against segregated public schools, ensured the rights of
suspected criminals and determined a constitutional "right of
privacy." Some people celebrate the Warren Court for expanding
rights and liberties, others condemn its "judicial activism"
and accuse it of overreaching.
After the death of John F. Kennedy, President Lyndon B.
Johnson appointed a reluctant Warren to chair a commission
investigating the assassination. Called the Warren Commission,
the panel concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone when he
killed Kennedy... Warren retired from the court in 1969.
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