Jackson, Robert H. (Robert Houghwout), 1892-1954

Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was an American attorney and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He had previously served as United States Solicitor General and United States Attorney General, and is the only person to have held all three of those offices. Jackson was also notable for his work as Chief United States Prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi war criminals following World War II.

Jackson was born in Spring Creek, PA, and raised in Frewsburg, NY. With only a modest education and no college degree, he spent approximately 20 years as a successful attorney in Jamestown before going to Washington, D.C. Jackson was admitted to the bar through a combination of reading law with an established attorney and attending law school. He is the most recent justice without a law degree to be appointed to the Supreme Court. Jackson is well known for his advice that, "Any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect, in no uncertain terms, to make no statement to the police under any circumstances," and for his aphorism describing the Supreme Court, "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final." Jackson developed a reputation as one of the best writers on the Supreme Court and one of the most committed to enforcing due process as protection from overreaching federal agencies.

Robert Jackson served in the Department of Justice as Solicitor General, Attorney General, and ultimately Associate Supreme Court Justice where he presided over a number of historic decisions including Brown v. Board of Education. While he was on the Court, he was appointed by President Truman to orchestrate, administer, and implement the trials of the major Nazi war criminals in Germany. At Nuremberg, he served as the Chief U.S. Prosecutor at the International Military Tribunal (IMT). Jackson created a trial format that blended the disparate precedent and procedures of four Allied nations; he coined terms for previously undefined felonies such as crimes against humanity and acts of aggression.

After Nuremberg, Jackson returned to the Supreme Court and continued to play a profound role in decisions that impacted a changing nation, including those involving Civil Rights, racial integration, and the religious rights of individuals.