Stevens, John Paul

Stevens, John Paul, 1920–, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1975–). After receiving his law degree from Northwestern Univ. (1947), he clerked with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge (1947–48). After many years of private practice in Chicago, he was named to the federal Court of Appeals in 1970. In 1975, President Ford named him to the U.S. Supreme Court. As a Justice, he was allied with neither the liberal nor the conservative wings of the court, maintaining a moderate and independent voting record. The replacement of liberal justices by more conservative appointees made Stevens one of the more liberal members of the court in the 1990s.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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