In A Republic, Justice Gorsuch recounts a story told by his former boss, Justice White:
THESE DAYS I SOMETIMES find myself thinking back a quarter century to a day when, as a law clerk, I was walking with my boss, Justice Byron White, along the ground-floor hallway of the Supreme Court. As we passed portrait after portrait of former justices, he asked me how many of them I could name. As much as I wanted to impress the boss, I admitted the answer was about half. The justice surprised me when he said, “Me too. We’ll all be forgotten soon enough.”
Justice White was quite right.
During a recent event, Justice Kavanaugh referred to Justice Robert Jackson, and added, “or as we like to refer to him, the first Justice Jackson.” Eek.
Everyone knows Justice Robert Houghwout Jackson, who served from 1941 through 1954. But most people do not know Justice Howell Edmunds Jackson. He was appointed by President Benjamin Harrison, and served from 1893 through 1895. Forgotten. KBJ is the third Justice Jackson.
Shortly before KBJ was appointed, I listed the other Justices who shared a last name:
- Chief Justice John Marshall (1801-1835) and Justice Thurgood Marshall (1967-1991)
- Justice John Rutledge (1790-1791) and Justice Wiley Rutledge (1943-1949)
- Justice Thomas Johnson (1792-1793) and Justice William Johnson (1804-1834)
- Justice Samuel Chase (1796-1811) and Chief Justice Salmon Chase (1864-1873)
- Justice John Marshall Harlan I (1877-1911) and Justice John Marshall Harlan II (1955-1971)
- Justice Lucius Quint C. Lamar (1888-1893) and Justice Joseph Rucker Lamar (1911-1916)—(they were cousins)
- Justice Edward Douglas White (1894-1910) and Justice Byron White (1962-1993)
- Justice John Hessin Clarke (1916-1922) and Justice Tom C. Clark (1945-1967)—(close enough on the spelling)
- Justice Owen Josephus Roberts (1930-1945) and Chief Justice John C. Roberts (2005-any day now)
