Burger, Warren (Earl)(1907– ) Supreme Court justice; born in St. Paul, Minn. He had been in private practice since 1931 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower named him assistant attorney general (1953–55) and then to the U.S. Court of Appeals (1956–69). His conservative approach, especially in regard to criminal justice, led President Richard Nixon to name him chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1969–86). Although generally conservative, he sometimes sided with the liberals on issues of civil rights, and he broke new ground with his outspoken views on the need for administrative reforms of the federal court system. He resigned to devote himself to the bicentennial observation of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution.
The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.