L. A. Powe

Re)introducing Wiley Rutledge

With the rarest of exceptions, when Supreme Court Justices leave the Court, they are soon all but forgotten.1 Constitutional law is unrelentingly presentist, so closely intertwined with politics and society that sitting (or recently departed) Justices necessarily speak to the issues more directly than those from another era. If that were not enough, being forgotten is virtually inevitable for those whose careers are short. One of those men was Wiley Rutledge who served from February 1943 until his death at age 55 from a cerebral hemorrhage, six and a half years later. Until John M. Ferrens recently published and marvelously researched Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court,2 Rutledge even lacked a true biography.3 That has been a shame, because the two dominant themes of Ferrens book show that Rutledge is worth knowing: He was a good man and a good judge. Indeed, on what probably was the most fractious Court in American history,4 Rutledge was the sole member both personally liked and intellectually respected by every other member.5