# Charles Evans Whittaker *United States Supreme Court justice from 1957 to 1962* Charles Evans Whittaker (February 22, 1901 – November 26, 1973) sat as an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] from 1957 to 1962.[^1] He was a corporate lawyer in Kansas City, Missouri, before President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated him to three federal courts in turn: the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit]] and the Supreme Court.[^1][^2] He was the first person to hold a judgeship at each of those three levels.[^1][^3] On a closely divided Warren Court, Whittaker was a swing vote.[^1][^3] After a nervous breakdown in the spring of 1962, he retired effective March 31, 1962, on a certified disability, according to the article's Supreme Court section; its lead section describes the departure as a resignation.[^3][^1] From September 30, 1965, he was chief legal counsel to General Motors, and in those years he criticized the Warren Court and the Civil Rights Movement.[^4] ## Early years and career Whittaker was born on a farm near Troy, Kansas.[^5] His father, Charles Edward Whittaker, was a farmer. His mother, Ida Eve Miller, was a schoolteacher originally from Hagerstown, Maryland.[^5] He went to the one-room Brush Creek School and then to Troy High School. He left Troy High School in the ninth grade, when his mother died on his sixteenth birthday.[^5] For the next three years he worked on a family farm, hunted and trapped. Newspaper reports of criminal trials drew his interest toward law.[^5] In the summer of 1920 he applied to the part-time evening program of the Kansas City School of Law, today the University of Missouri–Kansas City School of Law.[^5] He appealed in person to the school's president, Oliver Dean, and was admitted on condition that he finish high school. He enrolled at once at Manual High School in Kansas City, Missouri.[^5] For four years he worked by day to support himself and took high school and law classes at night. Future President Harry S. Truman was among his law school classmates.[^5] He was admitted to the Missouri bar in his final year and received a Bachelor of Laws with the class of 1924.[^5] He had earlier worked full-time as an office boy at the Kansas City, Missouri, firm of Watson, Ess, Marshall & Enggas. He joined that firm as a lawyer and developed a corporate practice.[^5] The Union Pacific Railroad, Montgomery Ward and the City National Bank and Trust Company were among his clients.[^5] He belonged to the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and formed close ties with the [[Republican Party (United States)]].[^5] ## Federal judicial service (District Court and Court of Appeals) On May 11, 1954, Eisenhower nominated Whittaker to the seat on the Western District of Missouri left vacant by Judge Albert L. Reeves.[^2] The [[United States Senate]] confirmed the nomination on July 7, 1954, and Whittaker's [[Commission]] was issued the following day.[^2] That service ended on June 21, 1956, when he was elevated to the Eighth Circuit.[^2] Eisenhower nominated Whittaker to the Eighth Circuit on March 16, 1956, for the seat vacated by Judge John Caskie Collet.[^2] The Senate confirmed him on June 4, 1956, and his commission was issued on June 5.[^2] He left the appeals court on March 24, 1957, upon his elevation to the Supreme Court.[^2] ## Supreme Court On March 2, 1957, Eisenhower nominated Whittaker as an associate justice to succeed [[Stanley Forman Reed]].[^3] The Senate confirmed him by a unanimous vote on March 19, 1957, and he took the judicial oath on March 25.[^3] No earlier justice had served as a judge of both a United States District Court and a United States Court of Appeals before joining the Supreme Court.[^3] [[Samuel Blatchford]] had also sat at three levels of the federal judiciary, but under a differently configured court system.[^3] Throughout his tenure Whittaker was Circuit Justice for both the Eighth and Tenth Circuits.[^3] The Court was closely divided, and Whittaker's vote often decided the outcome.[^3] According to Professor Howard Ball, he was an "extremely weak, vacillating justice" who was "courted by the two cliques on the Court because his vote was generally up in the air."[^3] The article states that Whittaker did not develop a consistent judicial philosophy. It also reports that he considered himself less qualified than some of his colleagues.[^3] Whittaker spent months deliberating over his vote in *Baker v. Carr*, a landmark reapportionment case, and suffered a nervous breakdown in the spring of 1962.[^3] At the request of Chief Justice [[Earl Warren]], he recused himself from the case.[^3] He then retired effective March 31, 1962, on a certified disability, giving exhaustion from the heavy workload and stress as his reasons.[^3] As of 2026, Whittaker is the sole Supreme Court justice appointed from Missouri.[^3] He is also the most recently appointed justice whose legal training was at a public law school.[^3] ## Final years Whittaker took up the post of chief legal counsel at General Motors effective September 30, 1965.[^4] In these years he criticized both the Warren Court and the Civil Rights Movement.[^4] He described the civil disobedience practiced by Martin Luther King Jr. and his followers as lawless.[^4] In an article for the *FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin*, he urged protesters to take their grievances to the courts rather than the streets.[^4] He died of a ruptured abdominal aneurysm at St. Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, on November 26, 1973.[^4] ## Family Whittaker and Winifred R. Pugh married in 1928.[^6] Their three sons were Charles Keith Whittaker, a neurosurgeon; Kent E. Whittaker, an attorney; and Gary T. Whittaker, a stockbroker.[^6] ## Legacy and honors The federal courthouse in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, is named in Whittaker's memory.[^7] The building is home to the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri.[^7] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *Charles Evans Whittaker* (revision 1380271118, retrieved 2026-10-26), lead section — life dates; associate justice 1957–1962; private practice in Kansas City, Missouri; first to serve on district, appeals and Supreme courts; swing vote on the Warren Court; 1962 breakdown and resignation. CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Evans_Whittaker [^2]: Wikipedia, *Charles Evans Whittaker* (revision 1380271118, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Federal judicial service (District Court and Court of Appeals)" section — nominations by Eisenhower; confirmation and commission dates for the District Court (May 11, July 7 and July 8, 1954; service ended June 21, 1956) and the Eighth Circuit (March 16, June 4 and June 5, 1956; service ended March 24, 1957). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Evans_Whittaker [^3]: Wikipedia, *Charles Evans Whittaker* (revision 1380271118, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Supreme Court" section — nomination March 2, 1957; unanimous confirmation March 19, 1957; oath March 25, 1957; three-level service and the Blatchford caveat; Circuit Justice assignments; swing vote and Howard Ball characterization; *Baker v. Carr* recusal; retirement effective March 31, 1962, on certified disability; Missouri and public-law-school distinctions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Evans_Whittaker [^4]: Wikipedia, *Charles Evans Whittaker* (revision 1380271118, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Final years" section — General Motors chief legal counsel effective September 30, 1965; criticism of the Warren Court and the Civil Rights Movement; *FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin* article; death on November 26, 1973. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Evans_Whittaker [^5]: Wikipedia, *Charles Evans Whittaker* (revision 1380271118, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Early years and career" section — birth, parents, schooling, law school admission, Truman as classmate, 1924 graduation, law firm, clients, fraternity, Republican ties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Evans_Whittaker [^6]: Wikipedia, *Charles Evans Whittaker* (revision 1380271118, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Family" section — 1928 marriage to Winifred R. Pugh; three sons and their occupations. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Evans_Whittaker [^7]: Wikipedia, *Charles Evans Whittaker* (revision 1380271118, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Legacy and honors" section — federal courthouse in Kansas City, Missouri, named in his memory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Evans_Whittaker