# John Paul Stevens *Associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1975–2010* John Paul Stevens (April 20, 1920 – July 16, 2019) sat as an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] from 1975 until 2010.[^1] He is second in age and fourth in length of service among the Court's justices, and when he died at 99 in 2019, no justice had lived longer.[^1] President Richard Nixon placed him on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in 1970. In 1975 President Gerald Ford nominated him to the Supreme Court to succeed the retiring [[William O. Douglas]].[^1] Stevens was a registered Republican and called himself a conservative throughout his life. By the time he retired, he was regarded as part of the Court's liberal side.[^1] Early in his Supreme Court tenure he voted to reinstate capital punishment. He also opposed race-based admissions programs such as the one at issue in *Regents of the University of California v. Bakke*, 438 U.S. 265 (1978).[^2] The project's Minnesota record carries one dated entry for him. On June 22, 1992, Stevens, Justice White and Justice [[Harry Blackmun]] issued concurrences in *R.A.V.*[^3] All three agreed that the ordinance was unconstitutional, but they rejected Justice [[Antonin Scalia]]'s content-discrimination framework.[^3] ## Life and career ### Early life and education Stevens was born in Chicago, Illinois, on April 20, 1920, into a wealthy family from Hyde Park.[^4] His father, Ernest James Stevens, was a lawyer who became a hotelier, owning the La Salle and the Stevens Hotel.[^4] The family lost the hotels during the Great Depression. His father, grandfather and an uncle were then charged with embezzlement, and the Illinois Supreme Court later overturned the conviction.[^4] He finished at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in 1937.[^4] He then studied English at the [[University of Chicago]], where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and graduated with highest honors in 1941.[^4] He served in the United States Navy during World War II and later earned his law degree at Northwestern University School of Law.[^1] ### Legal practice and the Seventh Circuit After a clerkship with Justice [[Wiley Rutledge]], Stevens helped found a Chicago law firm whose practice centered on antitrust law.[^1] Nixon appointed him to the Seventh Circuit in 1970.[^1] His record on that court was moderately conservative.[^2] ### Supreme Court (1975–2010) Ford's 1975 nomination filled the seat that Douglas left on retirement.[^1] When Blackmun retired in 1994, Stevens became the Court's senior associate justice.[^1] After Chief Justice [[William Rehnquist]] died in 2005, Stevens served for a short period as acting Chief Justice, until [[John Roberts]] was appointed.[^1] Stevens left the Court in 2010, during Barack Obama's presidency, and [[Elena Kagan]] took his seat.[^1] His majority opinions include:[^1] - *Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc.* - *Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council* - *Apprendi v. New Jersey* - *Hamdan v. Rumsfeld* - *NAACP v. Claiborne Hardware Co.* - *Kelo v. City of New London* - *Gonzales v. Raich* - *U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton* - *Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency* He dissented in *Texas v. Johnson*, *Bush v. Gore*, *Bethel v. Fraser*, *District of Columbia v. Heller*, *Printz v. United States* and *Citizens United v. FEC*.[^1] ## Judicial philosophy Stevens's Segal–Cover score measures how liberal or conservative a justice was perceived to be on joining the Court, and it placed him on the Court's conservative side.[^2] Early in his tenure his votes were relatively moderate. On the Rehnquist Court, however, he voted with the more liberal justices on abortion rights, gay rights and federalism.[^2] A 2003 statistical study of the Court's voting patterns ranked him its most liberal member.[^2] Writing to *USA Today* in 2005, Ford said that Stevens had made him "proud of my three decade old decision to appoint him to the Supreme Court."[^2] His approach is commonly described as idiosyncratic.[^2] Most justices relied on the cert pool, but Stevens had petitions for certiorari reviewed in his own chambers. He also wrote the first drafts of his opinions himself. Asked why, he answered, "I'm the one hired to do the job."[^2] He said that drafting taught him more about cases and legal theories, and that he reconsidered his positions while writing.[^2] He was neither an originalist in the manner of Scalia nor a pragmatist in the manner of Justice [[Stephen Breyer]], and he did not call himself a cautious liberal.[^2] ## Other significant opinions ### Chevron Stevens wrote for the majority in *Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.*, 467 U.S. 837 (1984). The opinion governs how courts review an agency's reading of the statute it administers.[^5] If the statute clearly expresses Congress's will, the court enforces that will. If the statute is unclear and the agency's reading has the force of law, courts defer to the agency unless its reading is "arbitrary, capricious, or manifestly contrary to the statute."[^5] Practitioners now call this doctrine *Chevron* deference.[^5] Stevens himself found such statutes unambiguous more readily than some colleagues did, and he was less inclined to defer to agencies. Examples are his majority opinion in *Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Cardoza-Fonseca*, 480 U.S. 421 (1987), and his dissent in *Young v. Community Nutrition Institute*, 476 U.S. 974 (1986).[^5] ### Crawford v. Marion County Election Board In *Crawford v. Marion County Election Board*, Stevens wrote the lead opinion upholding the authority of states to require official photo identification to vote. Roberts and Justice [[Anthony Kennedy]] joined it.[^5] ## Books Stevens published three books:[^6] - *Five Chiefs: A Supreme Court Memoir* (2011) covers his career under five chief justices. It moves from his clerkship in the Vinson era and private practice in the Warren era to his service on the Burger, Rehnquist and Roberts Courts. - *Six Amendments: How and Why We Should Change the Constitution* (2014) proposes six constitutional amendments. They address political gerrymandering, anti-commandeering, campaign finance reform, capital punishment, gun violence and sovereign immunity. - *The Making of a Justice: Reflections on My First 94 Years* (2019) appeared at age 99, shortly before his death. ## Personal life Stevens married in 1942. He and his first wife divorced in 1979, while he was on the Court, making him one of two justices to divorce while serving. The other was Douglas, his predecessor in the seat.[^7] He remarried later in 1979, and that marriage lasted until his wife's death in 2015.[^7] He had four children, two of whom died before him.[^7] Stevens was a Protestant, and his retirement left the Court with no Protestant member for the first time.[^7] He died on July 16, 2019, at age 99, in a Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hospital, of complications of a stroke.[^7] He lay in repose at the Supreme Court on July 22, 2019, with burial at Arlington National Cemetery planned for the next day.[^7] The sitting justices attended the service, along with retired justices Kennedy and [[David Souter]]. President Donald Trump ordered flags flown at half-staff on July 23.[^7] ## In the Minnesota record ### Who - John Paul Stevens, with Justices White and Blackmun, as the concurring justices in *R.A.V.*[^3] - Antonin Scalia, whose content-discrimination framework the concurrences rejected.[^3] ### What - The *R.A.V.* concurrences agreed that the ordinance was unconstitutional but rejected Scalia's content-discrimination framework.[^3] ### When - June 22, 1992: the *R.A.V.* concurrences of White, Blackmun and Stevens.[^3] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia, *John Paul Stevens* (rev. 1380688809, retrieved 2026-10-26), lead section — birth and death dates, tenure 1975–2010, longevity, party registration, education and Navy service, clerkship and law practice, Nixon and Ford appointments, senior and acting Chief Justice roles, retirement and successor, principal majority opinions and dissents. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Stevens [^2]: Wikipedia, *John Paul Stevens* (rev. 1380688809, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Judicial philosophy" — Seventh Circuit record, capital-punishment and *Bakke* positions, Segal–Cover score, 2003 voting analysis, Ford's 2005 letter, chambers practice and quotation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Stevens [^3]: Supreme Court of the United States, *R.A.V.*, 505 U.S. 377 (June 22, 1992) — concurrences of White, Blackmun and Stevens agreeing the ordinance is unconstitutional but rejecting Scalia's content-discrimination framework. https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/505/377/ [^4]: Wikipedia, *John Paul Stevens* (rev. 1380688809, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Life and career: Early life and education" — birth, family, embezzlement charge and reversal, schooling to 1941. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Stevens [^5]: Wikipedia, *John Paul Stevens* (rev. 1380688809, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Other significant opinions" — *Chevron*, *Cardoza-Fonseca*, *Young*, *Crawford*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Stevens [^6]: Wikipedia, *John Paul Stevens* (rev. 1380688809, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Books" — titles, years and subjects of his three books. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Stevens [^7]: Wikipedia, *John Paul Stevens* (rev. 1380688809, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Personal life" and "Death" — marriages, children, religion, death, repose and burial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Stevens