Scope and Content Note
The papers of Byron R. White (1917-2002) span the years 1961-1993. The collection documents White's tenure as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from his appointment by John F. Kennedy in 1962 through his retirement from the bench in 1993. Part I of the papers contains opinion files and related administrative records for the 1962-1983 court terms. Part II contains additional administrative records for the 1962-1983 court terms as well as opinion files and related administrative records for the 1984-1992 court terms.
Part I of the collection contains numerous opinions written by White on the social, political, and economic issues that came before the court during the 1962-1983 court terms. His dissenting opinion in the Miranda v. Arizona file opposed the court's ruling that people who are arrested must be told of their constitutional right against self-incrimination before police may question them. White's opposition to the constitutional right to an abortion is reflected in the Roe v. Wade file. In New York v. Ferber, White voted with the majority in deciding that the First Amendment did not protect speech and expression in works featuring sexual performances by children under age sixteen. Included in the records of that case is his opinion written for the court that child pornography, even when not legally obscene, could be outlawed.
Files in Part II focus on cases brought before the Supreme Court between the 1984 and 1992 court terms. Among these are White's majority opinion in Bowers v. Hardwick in which he wrote for the court in 1986 that consenting adults have no constitutional right to private homosexual conduct. In the file on Wards Cove Packing Co. v. Atonio is White's majority opinion written in 1989 that established criteria for the use of statistical evidence by workers claiming racial bias. The Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. file documents the decision that news organizations can be sued for breaking a promise and disclosing a confidential source. In writing for the majority in that case in 1991, White said "the First Amendment does not confer on the press a constitutional right to disregard promises that would otherwise be enforced under state law." Files on the 1992 Mississippi desegregation case, United States v. Fordice, include White's majority opinion that to desegregate state-run colleges and universities, a state has a responsibility to do more than simply "[abolish] the legal requirement that whites and blacks be educated separately and [establish] racially neutral policies."
The collection contains opinion files and administrative files arranged chronologically by court term. The opinion files document cases considered by the court with memoranda and drafts of majority opinions, dissents, and concurrences that were circulated among justices. While the circulations are typed or printed, many contain handwritten notes and other marginalia made by White or his clerks. The opinion files are segregated by appellate, miscellaneous, and original dockets. Beginning with the 1970 term, the miscellaneous docket was replaced by the in forma pauperis docket.
Administrative files consist of case assignment lists, circulation records, conference lists, schedules of court hearings, decision statistics, per curiams, and some docket sheets. In addition, there are numerous memoranda and reports generated by various officers of the court, including the administrative assistant to the chief justice, administrative officer, clerk, legal officer, librarian, marshal, nurse, personnel administrator, public information officer, and reporter. The files also include information on selected cases, especially in topical files such as "capital cases" and "drug cases."