Supreme Court of the United States

White Court
Fuller Court ← → Taft Court
Chief JusticeEdward Douglass White
December 18, 1910 – May 19, 1921 (10 years, 152 days)
Seat	Old Senate Chamber Washington, D.C.
No. ofpositions	9
White Court decisions

TheWhite Court refers to theSupreme Court of the United States from 1910 to 1921, whenEdward Douglass White served as theChief Justice of the United States. White, who had been anassociate justice since 1894, succeededMelville Fuller as Chief Justice after Fuller's death, and White served as Chief Justice until his own death a decade later. He was the first sitting associate justice to be elevated to Chief justice in the Court's history. He was succeeded by the formerpresidentWilliam Howard Taft.

The White Court was less conservative than the precedingFuller Court, though conservatism remained a powerful force on the bench (and would remain so until the early 1930s).^[1] The most notable legacy of White's chief-justiceship was the development of therule of reason doctrine, used to interpret theSherman Antitrust Act, and foundational toUnited States antitrust law. During this era the Court also established that theFourteenth Amendment protected the "liberty of contract." On the grounds of the Fourteenth Amendment and other provisions of the Constitution, it controversially overturned many state and federal laws designed to the civil service.

The White Court began in December 1910 when President William Howard Taft appointed White to succeed Melville Fuller as Chief Justice. White was the first incumbent associate justice to be appointed as Chief Justice.^[2] Earlier in 1910, Taft had appointedHorace Harmon Lurton andCharles Evans Hughes to the Supreme Court. In 1911, Taft appointedWillis Van Devanter andJoseph Rucker Lamar to the court, filling vacancies that had arisen in 1910. The White Court thus began with the five Taft appointees and four veterans of the Fuller Court:John Marshall Harlan,Joseph McKenna,Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., andWilliam R. Day. Harlan died in 1911, and Taft appointedMahlon Pitney to replace him. Lurton died in 1914, and PresidentWoodrow Wilson appointedJames Clark McReynolds to replace him.

In 1916, Lamar died and Hughes resigned toaccept theRepublican nomination for president. Wilson appointedLouis Brandeis andJohn Hessin Clarke to replace them. The White Court ended with White's death in 1921; PresidentWarren G. Harding appointed Taft as White's successor.

Bar key:

  Hayes appointee  McKinley appointee  T. Roosevelt appointee  Taft appointee  Wilson appointee

Presidents during this court includedWilliam Howard Taft,Woodrow Wilson, andWarren G. Harding. Congresses during this court included61st through the67th United States Congresses.

• Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States (1911): In a decision written by Chief Justice White, the court upheld the government's prosecution ofStandard Oil as valid under theCommerce Clause and theSherman Antitrust Act. The decision resulted in the break-up of Standard Oil.United States v. American Tobacco Co. (1911) was decided on the same day for similar reasons, and led to the break-up ofAmerican Tobacco Company.
• Houston East & West Texas Railway Co. v. United States (1914): In a decision written by Justice Hughes, the court allowed theInterstate Commerce Commission to regulate intrastate railroad rates, ruling that the ICC could regulate activity that has a "close and substantial relation" to interstate commerce.
• Guinn v. United States (1915): In a decision written by Chief Justice White, the court foundgrandfather clause exemptions toliteracy tests to be unconstitutional. The court held that such clauses violated theFifteenth Amendment, thoughSouthern states continued to find ways todisenfranchise African-American voters.
• Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. (1916): In a decision written by Chief Justice White, the court upheld the federal income tax imposed by theRevenue Act of 1913.
• Selective Draft Law Cases (1918): In a decision written by Chief Justice White, the court upheld theSelective Service Act of 1917, which provided forconscription.
• Hammer v. Dagenhart (1918): In a 5–4 decision written by Justice Day, the court struck down theKeating–Owen Act, which sought to limit the use ofchild labor. The court held manufacturing itself does not constitute interstate commerce, and thus Congress did not have the power to regulate manufacturing conditions.Hammer was overruled byUnited States v. Darby Lumber Co. (1941).
• International News Service v. Associated Press (1918): In a decision written by Justice Pitney, the court formulated themisappropriation doctrine of federalintellectual property law. The case arose from theInternational News Service's copying of reports aboutWorld War I written by theAssociated Press, and the court held that the AP reports qualified asquasi-property.
• Schenck v. United States (1919): In a decision written by Justice Holmes, the court upheld theEspionage Act of 1917 and the conviction ofCharles Schenck, a socialist organizer who handed out leaflets urging draftees to refuse to serve in World War I. Holmes laid out theclear and present danger doctrine to determine what speech was not protected by theFirst Amendment. A similar case,Debs v. United States (1919), upheld the conviction of perennial socialist presidential candidateEugene V. Debs.
• Abrams v. United States (1919): In a decision written by Justice Clarke, the court upheld theSedition Act of 1918 and the conviction of several defendants who had printed leaflets denouncing theAmerican intervention in theRussian Civil War. In a dissenting opinion, Justice Holmes argued that the defendants did not present a clear and present danger, and also noted that the Sedition Act only applied to the First World War.
• Missouri v. Holland (1920): In a decision written by Justice Holmes, the court upheld theMigratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which regulated the hunting of migratory waterfowl. The decision held that treaties take precedence over state law, and that the treaty did not violate theTenth Amendment.
• United States v. Wheeler (1920): In a decision written by Chief Justice White, the court held that thePrivileges and Immunities Clause establishes aright to travel.
• Newberry v. United States (1921): In a decision written by Justice McReynolds, the court overturned the conviction ofTruman Handy Newberry and held that Congress has no authority to regulate the nominations processes of political parties. The decision struck down spending limits established by theFederal Corrupt Practices Act. The case stemmed from the1918 Senate elections, in which Newberry defeatedHenry Ford to win office as Senator from Michigan.

Though the White Court continued to strike down some economic regulations and issue conservative rulings, it was more open to such regulations than the other courts that preceded theNew Deal.^[1][3] The White Court issued several favorable rulings towards an expanded interpretation of the Commerce Clause and taxing powers, althoughHammer stands as a notable exception to this trend.^[3] The White Court also issued notable rulings in the wake ofWorld War I, and the court generally ruled in favor of the government.^[4] After the 1916 appointments, the court had three ideological wings: Holmes, Brandeis, and Clarke were the progressives, McKenna, White, Pitney, and Day were centrists, and McReynolds and Van Devanter were conservative.^[1] Prior to his resignation, Hughes was often considered a progressive, while Lurton and Lamar did not serve long enough to develop strong ideological leanings.^[5] Regardless of the ideological blocs, consensual norms and the high load of relatively mundane cases faced by the Supreme Court prior to theJudiciary Act of 1925 meant that many cases were decided unanimously.^[6]

• 1910s in the United States
• 1920s in the United States
• United States Supreme Court history by court

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