William Howard Taft Court (1921-1930)
William Howard Taft was the 10th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, succeeding Edward Douglass White. Taft was also the 27th President of the U.S. and remains the only person ever to hold both offices. (Two of the Associate Justices with whom he served, Justices Willis Van Devanter and Mahlon Pitney, were appointed by Taft when he was President.) Taft was nominated by President Warren Harding on June 30, 1921. He was confirmed by the Senate on the day of his nomination, and he was sworn into office on July 11, 1921. Taft served as Chief Justice until he resigned on February 3, 1930 and was succeeded by Charles Evans Hughes.
Four of the Associate Justices who welcomed Taft to the Court remained there throughout his tenure. These were Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Willis Van Devanter, James McReynolds, and Louis Brandeis. In 1922, however, Justices John Hessin Clarke, William Rufus Day, and Mahlon Pitney departed. Justices George Sutherland, Pierce Butler, and Edward Terry Sanford replaced them. A close friend of Taft, Sanford eventually died on the same day as the Chief Justice in an eerie twist of fate.
After 1923, the membership of the Taft Court remained largely stable. The only change came in 1925, when Justice Harlan Fiske Stone replaced the retiring Justice Joseph McKenna.
Some decisions by the Taft Court have not stood the test of time. For example, the Court upheld racial segregation in public schools and compulsory sterilization of intellectually disabled people in state institutions, while striking down a minimum wage law for women. On the other hand, the Taft Court produced two of the most pivotal decisions in the history of property law. These established the standard for constitutional challenges to zoning regulations and shaped the principle of regulatory takings under the Fifth Amendment.
In 1922, the Taft Court ruled that professional baseball falls outside the Sherman Antitrust Act, which restricts anti-competitive actions by businesses. The baseball antitrust exemption persists today, allowing MLB to take steps to thwart competitors that other sports leagues cannot.
Associate Justices on the Taft Court:
- Joseph McKenna (1898-1925)
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1902-1932)
- William Rufus Day (1903-1922)
- Willis Van Devanter (1911-1937)
- Mahlon Pitney (1912-1922)
- James Clark McReynolds (1914-1941)
- John Hessin Clarke (1916-1922)
- Louis Brandeis (1916-1939)
- George Sutherland (1922-1938)
- Edward Terry Sanford (1923-1930)
- Pierce Butler (1923-1939)
- Harlan Fiske Stone (1925-1941; later served as Chief Justice in 1941-1946)
Selected Landmark Cases of the Taft Court:
Author: George Sutherland
Topic: Property Rights & Land Use
The inclusion of private land in a residential district under a zoning ordinance, with resulting inhibition of its use for business and industrial buildings to the serious damage of the owner, violates the Fourteenth Amendment if the health, safety, convenience, or general welfare of the part of the city affected will not be promoted as a result.
Olmstead v. U.S. (1928)
Author: William Howard Taft
Topic: Search & Seizure
Wiretapping was not a search or seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. (This case was overruled by Katz v. U.S. in 1967.)
Miller v. Schoene (1928)
Author: Harlan Fiske Stone
Topic: Property Rights & Land Use
When forced to make the choice, the state does not exceed its constitutional powers by deciding on the destruction of one class of property to save another class of property that, in the judgment of the legislature, is of greater value to the public.
Buck v. Bell (1927)
Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Topic: Due Process
A state may provide for the sexual sterilization of inmates of institutions supported by the state who are found to be afflicted with a hereditary form of insanity or imbecility.
Whitney v. California (Brandeis concurrence) (1927)
Author: Louis Brandeis
Topic: Free Speech
No danger flowing from speech can be deemed clear and present unless the incidence of the evil apprehended is so imminent that it may befall before there is opportunity for full discussion.
Gong Lum v. Rice (1927)
Author: William Howard Taft
Topic: Equal Protection
A child of Chinese blood who is a citizen of the U.S. is not denied the equal protection of the law by being classed by the state among the colored races who are assigned to public schools separate from those provided for the whites when equal facilities for education are afforded to both classes.
Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co. (1926)
Author: George Sutherland
Topic: Property Rights & Land Use
A zoning ordinance is not unconstitutional unless it is clearly arbitrary and unreasonable, having no substantial relation to public health, safety, morals, or general welfare.
Myers v. U.S. (1926)
Author: William Howard Taft
Topic: Separation of Powers; Government Agencies
The President has the exclusive power of removing executive officers of the United States whom he has appointed by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
U.S. v. General Electric Co. (1926)
Author: William Howard Taft
Topic: Patents
In licensing another person to make, use, and sell their invention, a patentee may impose the condition that sales by the licensee must be at prices fixed by the licensor.
Gitlow v. New York (1925)
Author: Edward Terry Sanford
Topic: Free Speech
The government cannot reasonably be required to defer taking measures against revolutionary utterances advocating the overthrow of organized government until they lead to actual disturbances of the peace or imminent danger of the government's destruction. (This case is also significant for applying the First Amendment to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment.)
Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925)
Author: James Clark McReynolds
Topic: Due Process
The fundamental theory of liberty on which all governments in the U.S. rest excludes any general power of the state to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only.
Ex Parte Grossman (1925)
Author: William Howard Taft
Topic: Separation of Powers
Complete independence and separation between the three branches are not attained or intended.
Carroll v. U.S. (1925)
Author: William Howard Taft
Topic: Search & Seizure
The Fourth Amendment recognizes a necessary difference between a search for contraband in a store, dwelling, or other structure for the search of which a warrant may readily be obtained, and a search of a ship, wagon, automobile, or other vehicle that may be quickly moved out of the locality or jurisdiction in which the warrant must be sought.
Moore v. Dempsey (1923)
Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Topic: Due Process; Criminal Trials & Prosecutions
A trial for murder in a state court in which the accused are hurried to conviction under mob domination without regard for their rights is without due process and void.
Meyer v. Nebraska (1923)
Author: James Clark McReynolds
Topic: Due Process
A state law forbidding the teaching of any modern language other than English to a child who has not successfully passed the eighth grade invades the liberty guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.
Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1923)
Author: George Sutherland
Topic: Due Process; Labor & Employment
Legislation fixing hours or conditions of work may properly take into account the physical differences between men and women, but the doctrine that women of mature age require (or may be subjected to) restrictions on their liberty of contract that could not lawfully be imposed on men in similar circumstances must be rejected.
Balzac v. Porto Rico (1922)
Author: William Howard Taft
Topic: Criminal Trials & Prosecutions
The provisions of the Constitution guaranteeing a jury trial in all criminal prosecutions do not apply to a territory belonging to the U.S. that has not been incorporated into the Union, such as Puerto Rico.
Pennsylvania Coal Co. v. Mahon (1922)
Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Topic: Property Rights & Land Use
If regulation goes too far, it will be recognized as a taking for which compensation must be paid.
Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore, Inc. v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs (1922)
Author: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Topic: Antitrust
The business of providing public baseball games for profit between clubs of professional baseball players is not within the scope of the federal antitrust laws.
Zucht v. King (1922)
Author: Louis Brandeis
Topic: Health Care
City ordinances that require that students be vaccinated to attend school and that vest broad discretion in health authorities to determine when and under which circumstances such a requirement will be enforced do not violate the Fourteenth Amendment.
Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co. (1922)
Author: William Howard Taft
Topic: Taxes; Powers of Congress
An act of Congress that is clearly designed to penalize (and thereby discourage or suppress) conduct that is reserved by the Constitution to be exclusively regulated by the states cannot be sustained under the federal taxing power by calling the penalty a tax.
