Sherman Minton, US Senator & Supreme Court Justice

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Jurist, US Senator, and US Supreme Court Associate Justice. A member of the Democratic Party, he served one term in the US Senate from January 1935 until January 1941 and on the US Supreme Court from October 1949 until October 1956. The third of five children, his father was a laborer for the New Albany and St. Louis Air Line Railway. At age nine, his mother died and as a young teenager, he relocated to Fort Worth, Texas with this older brother and worked at a meat packing plant in order to help support his family. The following year, he returned to his New Albany, Indiana home and after graduating from New Albany High School in 1910, he enrolled at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, graduating at the top of his class in 1913.

He then enrolled in the Indiana University School of Law (now the Indiana University Maurer School of Law) and played on the college football team. In 1915 he graduated at the top of his class and received a scholarship to attend Yale Law School at New Haven, Connecticut, graduating with his law degree in 1916. He returned to his home and opened a law practice and when the US entered World War I in April 1917, he joined the US Army, commissioned a captain, and sent to France in July 1918 with the 84th Division, American Expeditionary Forces. He did not see combat action and remained in Germany for until his discharge in August 1919.

While in Europe, he studied law at the University of Paris before returning home in March 1920 to resume his law practice. He then entered politics and lost the Democratic nomination for Indiana's 3rd congressional district. After relocating to Miami, Florida to join a law firm, he returned home in January 1928 and was defeated again for the Democratic congressional nomination. In 1934 he ran for US Senate and won, defeating incumbent Republican Arthur Ray Robinson.

It was during his Senate campaign that he delivered his infamous "You Cannot East the Constitution" speech" which nearly cost him the election. As a US Senator, he staunchly championed President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies and served on a special Lobby Investigation that looked into the questionable practices of lobby groups. In 1940 he ran for re-election to the US Senate and narrowly lost to the Republican challenger, Raymond E. Willis. In May 1941 President Roosevelt nominated him to serve on the US 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, filling the seat vacated by the death of Walter Emanuel Treanor.

In September 1949 US President Harry Truman nominated him to the US Supreme Court and he was confirmed by the US Senate the following month. During his tenure on the High Court, he wrote 67 majority opinions, of which his most famous was in Barrows v. Jackson (1953). His health began to slowly decline and he retired from the High Court in October 1956 and returned to his home where he occasionally lectured at Indiana University and gave public speeches. He received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky and Oxford University in England. J

Sherman "Shay" Minton (October 20, 1890 – April 9, 1965) was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana and an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was the most educated justice during his time on the Supreme Court, having attended Indiana University, Yale and the Sorbonne. He served as a captain in World War I, then launched a legal and political career. In 1930, after multiple failed election attempts, and serving as a regional leader in the American Legion, he became a utility commissioner under the administration of Indiana Governor Paul V. McNutt.

In 1934, Minton was elected to the United States Senate. During the campaign, he defended New Deal legislation in a series of addresses in which he suggested it was not necessary to uphold the Constitution during the Great Depression crisis. Minton's campaign was denounced by his political opponents, and he received more widespread criticism for an address that became known as the "You Cannot Eat the Constitution" speech. As part of the New Deal Coalition, the fiercely partisan Minton championed President Franklin D. Roosevelt's unsuccessful court packing plans in the Senate and became one of his top Senate allies.

After Minton failed in his 1940 Senate re-election bid, Roosevelt appointed him as a judge to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. After Roosevelt's death, President Harry Truman, who had developed a close friendship with Minton during their time together in the Senate, nominated him to the Supreme Court, where he served for seven years. An advocate of judicial restraint, Minton was a regular supporter of the majority opinions during his early years on the Court; he became a regular dissenter after President Dwight Eisenhower's appointees altered the Bench's composition. In 1956, poor health forced Minton's retirement, after which he traveled and lectured until his death in 1965.

Historians note the unusual contrast between his role as a partisan liberal Senator and his role as a conservative jurist. They attribute his shift in position as a reaction to the relationship between the New Deal senators and the conservative 1930s Court, which ruled much of the New Deal legislation unconstitutional. When Minton became a Supreme Court Justice, the Senate had become more conservative and the Court more activist, causing him to support conservative minority positions. As a Justice, Minton frequently played the role of peace-maker and consensus builder during a period when the Court was riven with feuds. He generally ruled in favor of order over freedom as a result of his broad interpretation of governmental powers. These rulings and their limited impact lead some historians to have a negative opinion of his judicial record. Other historians point out Minton's strong commitment to his judicial principles as a valuable attribute. In 1962, the Sherman Minton Bridge in southern Indiana and the Minton-Capehart Federal Building in Indianapolis were named in his honor.