# Willis Van Devanter *American lawyer and associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1911–1937* Willis Van Devanter (April 17, 1859 – February 8, 1941) was an American lawyer and an associate justice of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] from 1911 to 1937.[^1] He was a conservative and is counted among the Four Horsemen, the conservative bloc that dominated the Court for much of the 1930s.[^1] Before reaching the Court he worked as a lawyer, legislator and judge in Wyoming, held an assistant attorney general's post in the Department of the Interior, and sat on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.[^3][^5] His Supreme Court tenure lasted more than twenty-five years and ended with his retirement on June 2, 1937.[^6][^7] ## Early life Born in Marion, Indiana, Van Devanter came from a Dutch American family.[^2] He studied at Indiana Asbury University, later renamed DePauw University, between 1875 and 1878. In 1881 he received a Bachelor of Laws from the Cincinnati Law School.[^2] He belonged to the Beta Theta Pi fraternity and to the Knights of Pythias.[^2] ## Legal, political and state judicial careers Van Devanter relocated to the Wyoming Territory in 1884 and took the post of city attorney in Cheyenne.[^3] In 1886 he sat on a [[Commission]] charged with revising the territory's statutes, and in 1888 he was a member of the territorial [[Legislature]].[^3] During the Johnson County War of 1889–93 he represented the Wyoming Stock Growers Association.[^3] According to the Wikipedia account, his conduct of the litigation strained the budgets of the local courts and of the county and delayed trials, during the same period in which his clients and their allies worked to make key witnesses and the gunman unavailable; the account also says he obtained favorable coverage from the state's most influential newspapers and threatened the Johnson County paper with a slander suit.[^3] From 1889 to 1890 he was chief justice of the Supreme Court of Wyoming, after which he went back to private practice.[^3] His principal clients included the Union Pacific and other railroads.[^3] In 1896 he argued for the state of Wyoming before the U.S. Supreme Court in *Ward v. Race Horse*, 163 U.S. 504 (1896).[^4] The case concerned a state poaching charge for out-of-season hunting and its claimed conflict with an Indian treaty that permitted the activity. The Native Americans had won in the federal district court; on appeal the Supreme Court reversed by a 7–1 majority.[^4] Between 1897 and 1903 he worked in Washington, D.C., as an assistant attorney general in the Department of the Interior, and over the same years he was a professor at George Washington University Law School.[^4] ## Federal judicial service ### Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals President Theodore Roosevelt nominated Van Devanter on February 4, 1903, to a newly created seat on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.[^5] The [[United States Senate]] confirmed the nomination on February 18, 1903, and his commission issued that day.[^5] ### United States Supreme Court On December 12, 1910, President [[William Howard Taft]] nominated him to the associate justice seat vacated by Edward D. White.[^5] Senate confirmation followed on December 15, 1910, and he took the oath of office on January 3, 1911.[^5] His opinions on the Court covered public lands, Indian questions, water rights, admiralty, jurisdiction and corporate law; his best-known opinions, from the 1920s and 1930s, argued for limited government.[^6] Across a tenure of more than twenty-five years, his recorded votes went against the Agricultural Adjustment Administration in *United States v. Butler*, the National Recovery Administration in *Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States*, federal labor-relations regulation in *National Labor Relations Board v. Jones and Laughlin Steel Corp.*, the Railway Pension Act in *Railroad Retirement Board v. Alton Railroad*, unemployment insurance in *Steward Machine Co. v. Davis*, and the minimum wage in *West Coast Hotel v. Parrish*.[^6] His conservative record placed him among the Four Horsemen, with [[Pierce Butler (judge)]], [[James Clark McReynolds]] and [[George Sutherland]].[^6] ## Retirement and final years The departures of Chief Justice Taft and Justice Sanford in the early 1930s marked the start of a decline in his influence on the Court.[^7] Congress had halved Supreme Court pensions in 1932, restored them to full pay in February 1933, and halved them again the following month through the Economy Act.[^7] He retired on June 2, 1937, after Congress voted full pay for retiring justices over the age of 70.[^7] By his own acknowledgment, illness might have led him to retire five years earlier had he not been concerned about New Deal legislation, and he relied on his salary.[^7] On May 18, 1937, the day he made his decision public, he notified President Roosevelt that he would leave on June 2, 1937, at the close of the Court's term, citing his "desire to avail myself of the rights, privileges and Judicial service specified in the Act of March 1, 1937", the statute titled *An Act to provide for retirement of Justices of the Supreme Court*.[^7] He was the last Taft appointee still serving on the Court, and [[Hugo Black]] succeeded him.[^7] In retirement he lived on a 700-acre (280 ha) farm near Ellicott City, Maryland.[^8] He stayed available to sit in the lower courts and presided over civil trials.[^8] Around the turn of the century he had bought Pate Island, in the Woods Bay area of Georgian Bay in Ontario, Canada, where he hunted and fished.[^8] Van Devanter died in Washington, D.C., on February 8, 1941, and was buried in the city's Rock Creek Cemetery.[^8] The Library of Congress Manuscript Division holds his personal and judicial papers.[^8] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willis Van Devanter* (revision 1362322484, retrieved 2026-10-26) — lead: life dates, associate justice 1911–1937, conservative, Four Horsemen bloc. CC BY-SA 4.0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Van_Devanter [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willis Van Devanter* (revision 1362322484) — "Early life": birthplace, family, education, memberships. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Van_Devanter [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willis Van Devanter* (revision 1362322484) — "Legal, political and state judicial careers": Cheyenne, 1886 commission, 1888 legislature, Johnson County War, Wyoming chief justice 1889–1890, railroad clients. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Van_Devanter [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willis Van Devanter* (revision 1362322484) — "Legal, political and state judicial careers": *Ward v. Race Horse* (1896), Interior Department and George Washington University posts 1897–1903. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Van_Devanter [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willis Van Devanter* (revision 1362322484) — "Federal judicial service": Eighth Circuit nomination, confirmation and commission (1903); Supreme Court nomination, confirmation and swearing-in (1910–1911). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Van_Devanter [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willis Van Devanter* (revision 1362322484) — "Federal judicial service": opinion areas, recorded votes in the listed cases, Four Horsemen membership. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Van_Devanter [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willis Van Devanter* (revision 1362322484) — "Retirement and final years": pension history 1932–1937, May 18, 1937 notice, retirement on June 2, 1937, succession by Hugo Black. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Van_Devanter [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Willis Van Devanter* (revision 1362322484) — "Retirement and final years": Maryland farm, lower-court service, Pate Island, death, burial, papers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_Van_Devanter