What Earl Warren Was Thinking
An interview with the jurist whose court presided over the major decisions now being undone by a conservative court.
Earl Warren, right, smiles broadly as he talks to Governor Edmund G. Brown during a visit to the governor's office in Sacramento, California, January 5, 1966. AP Photo.
This is Part of the "The Supreme Court’s War on the Future" Dig series
This is a 1969 interview with the legendary Chief Justice Earl Warren just before his retirement conducted by the McClatchy Broadcasting Service.
Warren served as chief justice from 1953 to 1969. Under his stewardship, the high court expanded the scope of civil rights and civil liberties, issuing such landmark decisions as Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, ending legal segregation in public schools; Loving v. Virginia, declaring anti-miscegenation laws unconstitutional; Griswold v. Connecticut, recognizing a general right to privacy; Baker v. Carr, establishing the principle of “one person, one vote”; Miranda v. Arizona, requiring police to advise criminal suspects of their right to remain silent; and South Carolina v. Katzenbach, upholding the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
These precedents, and many others, are under attack by the current Supreme Court, which is dominated by six hardcore judicial conservatives.
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