Earl Warren: A Public Life

This is a major biography of one of America's most influential and respected Supreme Court justices by a leading law scholar. In the late 1970s, Earl Warren's papers were opened and G. Edward White, a former law clerk of Warren, was given complete access to research this book. The result is the first study of the Chief Justice to cover his entire political career and to examine aspects of Warren's character that have seemed paradoxical. White goes back to Warren's roots in California Progressivism to illuminate his mid-century liberalism and the controversial decisions over which he presided in the Supreme Court. Based on a wealth of newly available information and White's understanding of Warren's work and personality, this is a fascinating, original portrait of Chief Justice Earl Warren.

G. Edward White, Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law, is the author of several works, including The American Judicial Tradition and Tort Law in America.