Potter
Stewart was born on January 23, 1915, in Jackson,
Michigan. On March 17, 1941, Stewart applied for
a position as a Special Agent with the FBI. Stewart
worked as a law clerk in the New York law firm
of Debevoise, Stevenson, Plimpton, and Page from
September 1941 to April 1942, resigning to enter
the United States Navy. Stewart was admitted to
the New York Bar on April 2, 1942. Stewart worked
for the same New York law firm again from October
1945 until July 1946 as an associate. He resigned
in 1946 to work for the Airlines Negotiations Conference
in New York City. Stewart worked as an associate
and partner in the firm of Dinsmore, Shohl, Sawyer,
and Dinsmore in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1947 to 1954.
On April 27, 1954, Stewart was appointed Circuit
Court Judge of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, Cincinnati,
Ohio. On December 2, 1954, while serving as Judge
with the Sixth Circuit, he was appointed by President
Eisenhower to the White House Conference on Education.
On October 14, 1958, Stewart was named by President
Eisenhower as an Associate Judge of the Supreme
Court of the United States to replace retiring
Supreme Court Judge Harold H. Burton. On December
4, 1976, extortion letters were sent to Supreme
Court Justices Stewart, Harry Blackmun, and Byron
White postmarked at Oregon City, Oregon. The Assistant
United States Attorney, Tommy Hawk, for the District
of Oregon, did not consider the threat letters
to be specific enough to constitute a violation
of any law, therefore, he declined prosecution.
Stewart retired as a Judge of the Supreme Court
on July 3, 1981. On July 28, 1983, Stewart was
appointed as a member of President Reagan's Commission
on Organized Crime. On August 10, 1983, Potter
Stewart was appointed as a Member of the National
Bipartisan Commission on Central America. |
