Earl Warren
Earl Warren (1891 - 1974) was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States and the only person elected Governor of California three times. Before holding these positions, Warren served as a district attorney for Alameda County, California and Attorney General of California.
His tenure as California governor and Chief Justice was marked by extreme contrast. As governor of California, Warren was very popular across party lines, so much so that in the 1946 gubernatorial election he won the nominations of the Democratic, Progressive, and Republican parties. His tenure as Chief Justice was as divisive as his governorship was unifying. Liberals generally hailed the landmark rulings issued by the Warren Court which affected, among other things, the legal status of racial segregation, civil rights, separation of church and state, and police arrest procedure in the United States. Conservatives decried the Court's rulings, particularly in areas affecting criminal proceedings. In the years that followed, the Warren Court became recognized as a high point in the effort to effect social progress in the United States. Warren himself became widely regarded as one of the most influential Supreme Court justices in the history of the United States and perhaps the single most important jurist of the 20th century.
In addition to the constitutional offices he held, Warren was also the vice-presidential nominee of the Republican Party in 1948, and chaired the Warren Commission, which was formed to investigate the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
“Many people consider the things government does for them to be social progress but they regard the things government does for others as socialism."[Address to National Press Club in Washington DC, as quoted in Freedom and Union (April 1952)]”
“Everything I did in my life that was worthwhile, I caught hell for.”
“The fantastic advances in the field of electronic communication constitute a greater danger to the privacy of the individual.”
“When an individual is taken into custody or otherwise deprived of his freedom by the authorities and is subjected to questioning . . . he must be warned prior to any questioning that he has the right to remain silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law, that he has the right to the presence of an attorney, and that if he cannot afford an attorney one will be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires.”
“The censor's sword pierces deeply into the heart of free expression.”