Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was United States Attorney General (1940 - 1941) and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1941 - 1954). He was also the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.

Early life

Born in Spring Creek Township, Warren County, Pennsylvania and raised in Frewsburg, New York, Jackson graduated from Frewsburg High School in 1909 and spent the next year as a post-graduate student attending Jamestown High School in Jamestown, New York. Jackson never attended college. At age 18, he went to work as an apprentice in a Jamestown law office, then attended Albany Law School, in Albany, New York, completing a two-year course study in one year. Jackson then returned to Jamestown to apprentice for his third year. He passed the New York Bar Exam in 1913 and set up practice in Jamestown, New York.

U.S. Federal appointments, 1934 - 1940

Jackson was appointed to federal office by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1934. Jackson served initially as general counsel of the U.S. Treasury Department's Bureau of Internal Revenue (today's Internal Revenue Service). In 1936, Jackson became Assistant Attorney General heading the Tax Division of the Department of Justice, and in 1937 he became Assistant Attorney General heading the Antitrust Division. In 1938, Jackson became United States Solicitor General, serving until January 1940 as the government's chief advocate before the Supreme Court.

U.S. Attorney General, 1940 - 1941

Jackson was appointed Attorney General by Roosevelt in 1940, replacing Frank Murphy. When Harlan Fiske Stone replaced the retiring Charles Evans Hughes as Chief Justice in 1941, Roosevelt appointed Jackson to the resulting vacant Associate's seat

U.S. Supreme Court, 1941 - 1954

Jackson is widely considered by legal scholars as one of the greatest Supreme Court justices in history, known particularly for his vivid writing style. In 1943, Jackson authored the majority opinion in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), which overturned a public school regulation making it mandatory to salute the flag and imposing penalties of expulsion and prosecution upon students that failed to comply. Jackson's stirring language in Barnette concerning individual rights is widely quoted. Jackson's concurring opinion in 1952's Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (involving President Harry Truman's seizure of steel mills during the Korean War to avert a strike), where Jackson formulated a three-tier test for evaluating claims of presidential power, remains one of the most widely-cited opinions in Supreme Court history (it was quoted repeatedly by Supreme Court nominees John Roberts and Samuel Alito during their recent confirmation hearings).

International Military Tribunal, 1945 - c. 1946

In 1945, President Truman appointed Jackson, who took a leave of absence from the Supreme Court, to serve as U.S. chief of counsel for the prosecution of Nazi war criminals. He helped draft the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal, which created the legal basis for the Nuremberg Trials. He then served in Nuremberg, Germany, as United States chief prosecutor at the international Nuremberg trial. Jackson pursued his prosecutorial role with a great deal of vigor (for instance, referring in arguments to Hermann Göring as being "half militarist, half gangster"), and not a little oratorical elegance (his opening and closing arguments before the Nuremberg court are widely considered among the best speeches of the 20th century). However, his management of the American prosecution case lacked clarity and drive and his inexperience of effective use of cross-examination was exposed, in particular, by Göring himself. He resigned his position as prosecutor after the first trial and returned to the U.S. in the midst of controversy.

Later life, controversy and internal Supreme Court bickering

Jackson had informally been promised the Chief Justiceship by Roosevelt; however, the seat came open while Jackson was in Germany, and FDR was no longer alive. President Truman was faced with two factions, one recommending Jackson for the seat, the other advocating Hugo Black. In an attempt to avoid controversy, Truman appointed Fred M. Vinson. Jackson blamed machinations by Black for his being passed over for the seat and publicly exposed some of Black's controversial behavior and feuding within the Court. The controversy was heavily covered in the press and cast the New Deal Court in a negative light.

Jackson died in Washington, D.C. at the age of 62 and was interred in Frewsburg, New York.

One of Jackson's law clerks, William Rehnquist, was appointed to the Court in 1971 and became Chief Justice in 1986. During both confirmation hearings, Rehnquist was questioned about a memo written in connection with the landmark case, Brown v. Board of Education that argued in favor of affirming the separate-but-equal doctrine of Plessy v. Ferguson. Rehnquist attributed the views to Jackson, a claim disputed by numerous scholars and Jackson's personal secretary. See the discussion in the Rehnquist article.

Jackson was played by Alec Baldwin in the 2000 TNT television film Nuremberg.

                       

Courtesy of: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H._Jackson