# Owen Roberts *American jurist, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1930–1945)* Owen Josephus Roberts (May 2, 1875 – May 17, 1955) sat as an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] from 1930 until 1945. Outside the Court he headed two bodies known as the Roberts Commissions. One examined the attack on Pearl Harbor, and the other dealt with works of cultural value during World War II.[^1] Roberts was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He worked in the Philadelphia district attorney's office, and President Calvin Coolidge later named him to investigate the Teapot Dome scandal.[^1] In 1930 the Senate rejected John J. Parker, President Herbert Hoover's first choice for a Court vacancy. Hoover then nominated Roberts, and the Senate confirmed him.[^1] On the Hughes Court, Roberts stood between the conservative Four Horsemen and the liberal Three Musketeers. His vote, together with that of Chief Justice [[Charles Evans Hughes]], often determined whether President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation survived.[^1] In 1937 Roberts voted to uphold a state minimum wage law in *West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish*. That vote has been called "the switch in time that saved nine". The phrase refers to the ruling's possible part in the defeat of Roosevelt's Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937.[^1] The source does not establish why Roberts voted as he did and records his motivation as a matter of debate. He retired in 1945 and was dean of his law school from 1948 to 1951. He died in Chester County, Pennsylvania, in 1955.[^1] ## Early life and career Roberts was born in Philadelphia in 1875. He attended Germantown Academy and entered the [[University of Pennsylvania]] at 16. There he studied Greek, edited *The Daily Pennsylvanian*, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.[^2] He received his bachelor's degree in 1895. In 1898 he finished at the University of Pennsylvania Law School first in his class and summa cum laude.[^2] For the next two decades he taught contracts and property law at the law school while also practicing privately.[^2] On March 1, 1912, Roberts and fellow Philadelphia attorneys William W. Montgomery Jr. and Charles L. McKeehan established the firm Roberts, Montgomery & McKeehan. That firm was the predecessor of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP.[^2] Roberts first came to notice during three years as an assistant district attorney for Philadelphia County.[^2] Coolidge appointed him to investigate the oil reserve scandals known as Teapot Dome. The inquiry led to the prosecution of former Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall and to Fall's conviction for bribe-taking.[^2] ## Supreme Court Associate Justice [[Edward Terry Sanford]] died in March 1930.[^1] Hoover first named John J. Parker to the vacancy. After the Senate rejected Parker, Hoover nominated Roberts on May 9, 1930.[^3] Roberts, unlike Parker, was confirmed by voice vote, on May 20, 1930. He took the judicial oath on June 2, 1930.[^3] Roberts held a position between two groups on the Court. The first group was Justices [[Louis Brandeis]], Benjamin Cardozo and Harlan Fiske Stone, together with Chief Justice Hughes. They read the Commerce Clause broadly enough to let Congress pass New Deal measures that gave the federal government a more active role in the economy. The second group was the Four Horsemen: Justices [[James Clark McReynolds]], [[Pierce Butler (judge)|Pierce Butler]], [[George Sutherland]] and [[Willis Van Devanter]]. They read the clause narrowly and believed that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protected a strong "liberty of contract".[^3] In *United States v. Butler* (1936), Roberts joined the Four Horsemen. He wrote the opinion holding that the Agricultural Adjustment Act exceeded Congress's taxing and spending powers.[^3] While on the Court, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society.[^3] ### "Switch in Time that Saved Nine" In late 1936 Roberts changed his position on the constitutionality of the New Deal. In 1937 the Court decided *West Coast Hotel v. Parrish*, sustaining minimum wage laws, and afterward it upheld all New Deal programs.[^3] The ruling coincided with Roosevelt's 1937 "Court-packing" plan to appoint additional justices.[^3] The Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937, which would have enlarged the Court, was defeated. The "switch in time" label refers to the decision's possible role in that outcome.[^1] Roberts's reasons for the change, and his part in the bill's defeat, remain debated.[^1] Roosevelt's long presidency nonetheless let him appoint most of the Court. By the time Roberts left the bench, he was the only sitting justice Roosevelt had not appointed.[^1] In *Korematsu v. United States*, Roberts, [[Robert H. Jackson]] and [[Frank Murphy]] were the three justices who voted against Roosevelt's orders for Japanese American internment camps.[^1] In *Smith v. Allwright*, which held white primaries unconstitutional, Roberts was the sole dissenter.[^1] His relations with colleagues on the Stone Court grew strained, and he retired in 1945.[^1] ## Later life In 1946 Roberts became the first layperson elected President of the House of Deputies of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (United States). He served for one convention.[^4] In retirement, he and Robert P. Bass convened the Dublin Declaration. It proposed turning the U.N. General Assembly into a world [[Legislature|legislature]] with "limited but definite and adequate power for the prevention of war".[^4] From 1948 to 1951 Roberts was dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.[^4] He died on May 17, 1955, after a four-month illness, at the Strickland-Roberts Homestead, his farm in Chester County, Pennsylvania.[^1][^4] He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth Caldwell Rogers, and his daughter, Elizabeth Hamilton.[^4] Germantown Academy named its debate society for him. The Owen J. Roberts School District near Pottstown, Pennsylvania, also bears his name.[^4] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Owen Roberts*, lead section (revision 1359060857, retrieved 2026-10-26) — summary of Roberts's Court service, the two Roberts Commissions, the 1930 nomination after Parker's rejection, his Hughes Court position, the "switch in time" label and the 1937 bill, the *Korematsu* and *Smith v. Allwright* votes, his 1945 retirement, deanship and death. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Roberts [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Owen Roberts*, *Early life and career* section (revision 1359060857, retrieved 2026-10-26) — education, law teaching, the 1912 firm founding, the assistant district attorney post, and the Teapot Dome investigation leading to Albert B. Fall's conviction. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Roberts [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Owen Roberts*, *Supreme Court* section (revision 1359060857, retrieved 2026-10-26) — nomination on May 9, 1930, voice-vote confirmation on May 20, 1930, oath on June 2, 1930, the Commerce Clause blocs, *United States v. Butler* (1936), the American Philosophical Society election, and the 1936–1937 shift. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Roberts [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Owen Roberts*, *Later life* section (revision 1359060857, retrieved 2026-10-26) — the 1946 House of Deputies presidency, the Dublin Declaration, the 1948–1951 deanship, death, family and namesakes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Roberts