Last updated on June 4th, 2017 at 03:32 pm
Byron White was the former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States who remained in office from 1962 to 1993 as the successor of Charles Whittaker. White also worked as US Deputy Attorney General from 1961 to 1962.
Early life and Education
Byron White was born on June 8, 1917 to father Alpha Albert and mother Maude Elizabeth. Raised in Fort Collins and Wellington, Byron went to a small local school where he graduated as a valedictorian. Completing high school, he joined the University of Colorado and became an active member of Phi Gamma Delta.
As White graduated from Colorado University, he received a Rhodes Scholarship from the University of Oxford. He deferred the academic term by a year and started pro-football.
Personal Life
Byron White was married to Marion who he met while at the University of Colorado. The couple got married in 1946 and gave birth to son Charles and daughter, Nancy. Marion was born in 1921 and died in 2009, seven years after her husband’s death. Retired Judge Byron White died on April 15, 2002 due to complications from pneumonia.
Career
After completing bachelor’s degree from the University of Colorado, Byron White entered Pittsburgh Pirates as a halfback. In 1940, he left Pittsburgh and joined Detroit Lions and remained in the team for a year. In 1942, he was recruited into the US Navy where he worked as an intelligence officer at Police Theatre. White had always desired to be a marine but had to forgo the desire after being found to be colour-blind.
After the second world war finished in 1945, Byron left military service and joined Yale Law School for an LLB. Soon after graduating from Yale, he started working as a law clerk for Fred Vinson. Then, he entered private law practice via Davis Graham & Stubbs. White served with the firm for over one and a half decade. Subsequently, in 1961, he was nominated to become US Deputy Attorney General as the successor of Lawrence Walsh. A year later, as Charles Whittaker retired due to disability, under the nomination of President Kennedy, Byron White assumed the post of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States on April 16, 1962.
Under the capacity of an Associate Justice, Byron White made 994 opinions and was widely known for his fierce questionnaire to attorneys. Likewise, he was a mentor to Neil Gorsuch, the current Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court. In regard to death penalty, White was known to be a centrist. Also, he was a strong supporter of American affirmative actions.
Donald Trump and Byron White
Byron White is apparently a mentor to Donald Trump’s Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, Neil Gorsuch. Neil worked for Byron as a law clerk in Supreme Court.
