Warren E. Burger

Warren Earl Burger was born in St. Paul Minnesota. In a family of seven children, Burger earned his way through college and law school. He engaged in private legal practice for more than twenty years, but during this period he became active in state Republican Party matters. He worked in the Justice Department under President Eisenhower, who nominated Burger in 1956 to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Burger was named by President Richard Nixon in 1969 to replace Earl Warren as Chief Justice. Burger was a strong advocate of "strict construction" to the interpretation of the Constitution. He identified with the Court's conservative wing and frequently voted to limit the liberal decisions of the Warren period. Burger was not one-dimensional. He authored the Court's opinion upholding the right of trial judges to order busing as a remedy for school segregation and he spoke for a unanimous Court upholding a subpeona for the Watergate tapes which resulted in President Nixon's resignation.