Earl Warren

Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren was devoted to protecting the individual rights and equality of all Americans.

Warren was born in Los Angeles in 1891 but was raised in Bakersfield, spending his youth listening to criminal cases in Kern County courts.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Legal Studies from the University of California in 1912. He added his Juries Doctor in 1914, gaining admission to the California Bar Association in 1915.

After serving as an infantry first lieutenant in World War I, he was appointed as Alameda County’s District Attorney in 1925.

In 1939 he was elected Attorney General and in 1942 became the Governor of California -- the first governor to be elected for three consecutive terms.

In 1948, Warren was the Republican nominee for Vice President on the ticket with Thomas A. Dewey, a ticket defeated by Harry S. Truman. In 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Warren as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States. During his tenure he presided over landmark decisions including the outlaw of school segregation and the right to counsel in a criminal proceeding. In 1963, he chaired the commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Warren retired from the Supreme Court in 1969 and passed away in 1974 at the age of 83. In 1989, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In 1994, Earl Warren Junior High School in Bakersfield was named in his honor.