Potter Stewart

Potter Stewart was the son of the Republican mayor of Cincinnati, so he was raised on politics. Though his background was ideologically conservative, Stewart was often cast as a centrist on the Court. Often he would vote with liberal justices on First Amendment issues and then side with conservative justices on matters of equal protection. Stewart will long be remembered for his concurrence in a pornography case, Jacobellis v. Ohio. Though he was unable to formulate a definition of pornography, he declared that "I know it when I see it." He went on to defend the movie in question against further censorship. This observation summarizes Stewart's judicial philosophy: particularistic, intuitive, and pragmatic.