Justice Robert H. Jackson Lecture with Professor Bryan Garner

Robert H. Jackson & the Justice Jackson Lecture Series

Robert Houghwout Jackson was born in 1892 on the same farm as his father and grandfather in Spring Creek, Pennsylvania. He never attended college but went to Albany Law School for one year. He obtained most of his legal education under the old apprenticeship system as a law clerk and did not acquire a law degree until after he was named a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was awarded an honorary degree by Albany Law School.

Justice Jackson was invited by President Franklin Roosevelt to serve in the New Deal government, first as general counsel to the Bureau of Internal Revenue, later as solicitor general and attorney general. He took his seat as a justice of the Supreme Court on Oct. 6, 1941, and served until his death in 1954.

Justice Jackson is best remembered for his wisdom, vigorous decisions, and for his role as America’s chief prosecutor in the Nuremberg War Trials.

The decision to honor Justice Jackson with this lecture series was made by his friend and Supreme Court colleague Justice Tom C. Clark, one of the founders of The National Judicial College.

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