User:Extraordinary Writ/Sources about Supreme Court justices

This page lists sources that have proved helpful to me when writing articles about justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. It's mainly for my own benefit, but perhaps you, dear reader, will find something useful here too. (If you're interested in writing about anything Supreme Court–related, feel free to leave me a message—I'd be happy to help.) Aside from books and articles specific to the justice I'm writing about (found through Google Books, Google Scholar, bibliographies, etc.), I like to consult these sources:

The Justices of the United States Supreme Court

This was originally published in four volumes as The Justices of the United States Supreme Court, 1789–1969 by Chelsea House in 1969, edited by Leon Friedman and Fred L. Israel. It's gone through several editions since then (sometimes in five volumes), but even the newest 4th edition (2013) from Facts on File contains most of the original 1969 essays more-or-less unaltered except for justices who were around post-1969. Unless you're writing about someone recent, then, any edition is fine. This is a really important source, especially if you're writing about a less well-known justice. Although it's shelved in the reference section, it's unequivocally secondary: the authors are doing substantial amounts of original primary-source research. It's old but authoritative, and it often contains numerous facts and analyses you won't find elsewhere (due to its length if nothing else). The essays are written by different authors and vary in style and quality. As of 2024, the Internet Archive has the following volumes:

• Volume II of the 1969 edition: Nelson (appointed 1845) to H. E. Jackson (appointed 1893)
• Volume III of the 2013 edition: Day (appointed 1903) to Clark (appointed 1949)
• Volume IV of the 1997 edition: Douglas (appointed 1939) to Powell (appointed 1971)
• Volume V of the 1978 edition: T. Marshall (appointed 1967) to Stevens (appointed 1975) plus Black, Douglas, Harlan II, Brennan, Stewart, and B. White. Use another edition if possible: this one isn't really able to take a historical perspective.

This means the sections on justices pre-1845 and post-1975 (plus a handful appointed between 1893 and 1903) aren't available online. If you're looking for one in that range, consult a nearby library, WP:REREQ, or me.

Period histories

There are several good series of books that address the Court period-by-period (usually by chief justiceship, per convention). Oftentimes they do have some biographical material about justices, but they're useful mainly for information about cases and broader trends. These include:

Holmes Devise

The U.S. Permanent Committee for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise is responsible for the Oliver Wendell Holmes Devise History of the Supreme Court of the United States (quite a mouthful). The series has moved at a glacial pace over the last seventy years, but there are now finally twelve volumes out (with more to be published at indeterminate points in the future). All are authoritative (the usual term is "magisterial"), although some are newer/better than others. The Internet Archive has incorrectly labeled some of these, so a search at openlibrary.org may not find what you're looking for.

• Volume I (beginnings to 1801): Internet Archive
• Volume II (1801–1815): not currently available online; click here to find a library
• Volumes III and IV (1815–1835): Internet Archive
• Volume V (1836–1864): Internet Archive
• Volume VI (1864–1888, pt. 1): Internet Archive
• Volume VII (1864–1888, pt. 2): Internet Archive
• Volume VIII (1888–1910): Internet Archive
• Volume IX (1910–1921): Internet Archive
• Volume X (1921–1930): Cambridge Core
• Volume XI (1930–1941): Cambridge Core
• Volume XII (1941–1953): Internet Archive

University of South Carolina Press

The University of South Carolina Press publishes a series called "Chief Justiceships of the United States Supreme Court" Although some volumes do place an emphasis on the chief justice's role, the series is mainly useful as a general history. These are shorter and more readable than anything in the Holmes Devise series, although that has both costs and benefits.

• Pre-1801: Project Muse
• 1801–1835: Internet Archive
• 1874–1888: Project Muse
• 1888–1910: Project Muse
• 1910–1921: Internet Archive
• 1921–1930: Project Muse
• 1969–1986: Internet Archive

Other series

ABC-Clio has a series of "Supreme Court Handbooks" (titles contain "Justices, Rulings, and Legacy"). These are targeted toward general readers (particularly students), but they're written by qualified scholars and are probably fine as sources if you have access to them. I don't recommend the "Supreme Court in American Life" series from Associated Faculty Press, which seems to have very little original to say.

Tertiary sources

These generally strike me as reliable for purposes of WP:TERTIARY, and although secondary sources are preferred, there are plenty of places where these are useful. The "further reading" sections can be valuable.

• The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1993 (CQ Press). Biographical entries (with pictures!) that provide useful introductions. The authors are listed in the table of contents; some are better qualified than others.
• Biographical Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court (CQ Press). These are more scholarly than the Illustrated Biographies and tend to focus more on jurisprudence and philosophy than biographical details. Some are very short, though. Well-qualified authors.
• The second volume of the Guide to the U.S. Supreme Court (CQ Press) has very brief biographies in the "Members of the Court" section. Not much here you can't find elsewhere.
• The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States (Oxford University Press). Brief but cogent entries on justices, cases, and other topics.
• Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary (Facts on File). This is one of those books targeted at students and the like, but the author does a surprisingly good job; in particular, the first and last paragraphs of each entry tend to provide rather insightful analysis.

Miscellany

Various sources useful for various things:

• Landmark Decisions of the United States Supreme Court by Paul Finkelman and Melvin I. Urofsky (CQ Press) provides a summary of more than a thousand Supreme Court cases as well as information about the date of argument, date of decision, vote, etc. Strikes a good compromise between breadth and depth, but don't over-rely on it: while very intelligent, the authors are generalists who sometimes make mistakes on specifics.
• The Supreme Court Compendium by Lee Epstein et al. provides a tremendous amount of data about the Court and its justices, from the exact number of concurrences they wrote to their Martin–Quinn scores to how often they agreed with each of their colleagues. This should be used cautiously as it's basically a primary source. The Internet Archive has the 1st edition (1994); the 7th edition (2021) is most recent.
• Justices who previously served as lower-court judges (or who took their role as circuit justice seriously) often show up in histories of the circuit. Many of these were published around the bicentennial and are in the public domain (check Google Books).
• Justices, Presidents, and Senators by Henry J. Abraham is the authoritative source for the nomination/confirmation process. For appointments between 1853 and 1940, these three articles from 1941 by John Paul Frank are also quite useful, though dated.
• Leaving the Bench by David N. Atkinson is useful for justices in their waning years, as is this article by David Garrow.
• If you were wondering where a justice is buried, your answer lies in these two articles by George A. Christensen (click "sign in" and type "Wikipedia" into the "institution" field).
• May It Amuse the Court: Editorial Cartoons of the Supreme Court and Constitution is a lovely book that might have a useful public-domain image.
• This article on judicial reputation by William G. Ross is useful if you want a numerical indicator of what scholars think of a justice, as are the surveys it cites.