Warren E. Burger

Warren Earl Burger was born on September 17, 1907, in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and died on June 25, 1995, and served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. A graduate of the St. Paul College of Law, he served as an assistant attorney general under President Eisenhower and then as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, where he became known as a critic of the Warren Court, before President Nixon nominated him to succeed Earl Warren as chief justice. He wrote the unanimous 1974 opinion in United States v. Nixon rejecting President Nixons claim of executive privilege over the Watergate tapes, a ruling that helped precipitate Nixons resignation, and he joined the majority in Roe v. Wade recognizing a constitutional right to abortion, though he later voted to narrow that right in cases such as Harris v. McRae. Under his tenure the Burger Court also worked to improve federal judicial administration, helping establish the National Center for State Courts, before Burger retired in 1986 and was succeeded by William Rehnquist.