Scope and Content Note
The papers of John Paul Stevens (1920-2019) span the years 1939-2019, with the bulk of the material dating from 1975 to 2010. The collection consists of two parts with some topics and time periods common to both. The majority of papers in both parts documents Stevens’s service as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court for over thirty-four years. Part II also includes material relating to Stevens's investigative work as chief counsel for the Special Commission in Relation to No. 39797, a commission appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court, and a few papers pertaining to his years as a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.
Part I
Part I of the papers spans from 1975 to 1987, with the bulk of material dating from 1975 to 1984. The collection chronicles Stevens's early years as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. The papers in Part I are in English and consist of one series, the Supreme Court File.
The Supreme Court File (1975-1987) documents the first nine terms of Stevens's tenure as a Supreme Court justice. This series is divided into three subseries: Case File, Dockets, and Certiorari Memoranda. The Case File (1975-1987) is made up of administrative and opinion files. The administrative files include correspondence, memoranda, assignment lists, conference and order lists, applications, and other material relating to cases heard by the Court, non-argued cases, and administrative matters.
The opinion files, organized largely according to the arrangement by Stevens's staff, are arranged by court term and therein alphabetically in two groups: court circulations and Stevens's assignments. Cases filed in the court circulations consist mainly of cases in which other justices wrote the deciding opinion for the Court. If Stevens wrote for a case, the case is filed under Stevens's assignments. In the 1975 and 1976 terms and one or two cases in later terms, a case may appear in both court circulations and Stevens's assignments. In that instance, the drafts of Stevens's writings for a case are filed in Stevens's assignments while the correspondence with the other justices and some of their drafts are filed in court circulations. To locate all files for a case, it is best to perform a keyword search of the finding aid. Applications and original jurisdiction cases precede the appellate and in forma pauperis cases in both the court circulations and Stevens's assignments in the opinion files.
The opinion files include slip opinions, correspondence with the other justices, drafts of opinions, Stevens's oral argument notes, his conference notes (recorded on the reverse side of docket sheets), and his clerk's certiorari memoranda. Additional docket sheets and certiorari memoranda for all other non-argued cases are filed in the Dockets subseries and the Certiorari Memoranda subseries. The opinion files do not include any bench memoranda. The files document Stevens's propensity for writing both dissents and concurrences and reflect that he usually wrote many of the first drafts of his opinions himself. Some of the significant decisions in which he participated during his early tenure on the bench include capital cases (Gregg v. Georgia and Woodson v. North Carolina) and affirmative action cases (Fullilove v. Klutznick and Regents of the University of California v. Bakke). The opinion files include one case from the 1986 term, Tashjian v. Republican Party.
The Dockets subseries (1975-1984) provides a record of the name and docket number of individual cases. They also record the votes of the justices for granting or denying certiorari and document their actions regarding motions and petitions. Most of the sheets in the Dockets subseries are for non-argued cases. Docket sheets for argued cases are filed in the in the Case File subseries. The in forma pauperis dockets are divided into two categories: master dockets and "special greens." The master docket sheets have eight cases per page and some cases have notations to see "special greens." The "special greens" contain only one case per sheet similar to the appellate docket sheets and were probably used for the in forma pauperis cases that were discussed by the justices at conference.
The Certiorari Memoranda (1975-1984) consist of memoranda, including occasional attachments, written by law clerks for cases that were never argued. Certiorari memoranda for the argued cases are usually included in the opinion files of the Case File subseries. When a certiorari pool was established in 1972, many of the justices pooled their clerks so that a single clerk's memorandum summarizing the case circulated to all the justices who participated in the "cert. pool." Stevens chose not to participate in the pool. Therefore, he relied on his own clerks' memoranda and his review of petitions to determine whether the Court should grant certiorari.
Part II
Part II of the collection spans the years 1939-2019, with most of the items concentrated in the period from 1984 to 2010. The papers supplement the files in Part I, particularly the Supreme Court File. The papers in Part II are in English and are organized into the following four series: Supreme Court File, Speeches and Writings File, Miscellany, and Restricted File.
The Supreme Court File, comprising almost 570 boxes, covers Stevens’s tenure on the Supreme Court from 1984 to 2004. The series is divided into four subseries: Case File, Dockets, Certiorari Memoranda, and Subject File. The Case File subseries (1984-2004) consists of administrative and opinion files. The administrative file includes correspondence, memoranda, assignment lists, conference lists, order lists, death penalty lists, applications, and other material pertaining to cases heard by the Court, non-argued cases, and administrative matters.
The opinion files follow the arrangement of Part I and are organized by court term and therein into two groups: court circulations and Stevens’s assignments. Court circulation cases are mainly those in which other justices wrote the deciding opinion. Cases filed under Stevens’s assignments are cases in which Stevens wrote for a case. Applications and original jurisdiction cases precede the appellate and in forma pauperis cases in both court circulations and Stevens’s assignments in the opinion files. In the 2000 term the Court changed its numbering system for applications, adding a two-digit term designation (00A1, instead of A-1, and 99 for applications carried over from the 1999 term).
The opinion files include slip opinions, correspondence with other justices, drafts of opinions, a few printed emails with law clerks, docket sheets (containing Stevens’s conference notes on the reverse), oral argument notes, bench statements, and certiorari memoranda written by Stevens’s clerks. Docket sheets and certiorari memoranda for all other non-argued cases are filed in the Dockets subseries and the Certiorari Memoranda subseries. Beginning with the October 1996 term, Stevens’s oral argument notes decrease and later terms contain almost none. The opinion files for Part II contain no bench memoranda.
The opinions in the Part II Case File reflect Stevens’s evolving position on the Court from a relatively unknown justice characterized as a moderate conservative early in his career to his role as the leader of its liberal contingent when he became the senior associate justice in 1994. As Stevens was one of the longest-serving justices of the Supreme Court (thirty-four and a half years), his papers also document the transformation of the Court itself, which grew more conservative, especially between the mid-1980s and 2009, as compared to its composition when he was appointed in 1975.
Some of the significant decisions, covering a range of issues, in which Stevens participated include: abortion (Webster v. Reproductive Health Services and Planned Parenthood v. Casey), affirmative action (Wygant v. Jackson Board of Education, City of Richmond v. J. A. Croson Co., and Grutter v. Bollinger), gay rights (Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, Bowers v. Hardwick, and Lawrence v. Texas), campaign spending and campaign contributions (McConnell v. Federal Election Commission as part of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Acts), freedom of speech (Texas v. Johnson and McIntyre v. Ohio Elections Commission), capital cases (Stanford v. Kentucky, Atkins v. Virginia, and Roper v. Simmons) presidential power (Clinton v. Jones and Clinton v. City of New York), rights of terrorist detainees (Rasul v. Bush and Rumsfeld v. Padilla), and the 2000 presidential election (Bush v. Gore and Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board).
The Dockets subseries (1975-2004) contains the docket sheets for non-argued cases. They provide the name and docket number of individual cases and document the votes of the justices in granting or denying certiorari as well as their actions on motions and petitions. The docket sheets for argued cases are filed in the Case File subseries.
The Certiorari Memoranda subseries (1978-2004) consists of memoranda written by Stevens’s law clerks summarizing the facts of each case to determine whether the Court should hear or not hear a case. The memoranda in this subseries feature cases that were never argued before the Court. Stevens did not participate in the certiorari pool, preferring to determine whether to grant certiorari based on the review of petitions by his clerks and himself.
The Subject File subseries (1976-2005) pertains chiefly to Stevens’s attendance at federal judicial conferences. Stevens usually spoke at these meetings, and the judicial conference files include typescripts and notes (some handwritten) of his remarks. For the Sixth and Seventh circuit conferences, Stevens reported on the outcome of cases from these circuits that came before the Court for the term. The Subject File also contains correspondence, articles and essays, and moot court files documenting Stevens’s belief that Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, was the author of William Shakespeare’s works. Also present in the Subject File are a few of Stevens’s court of appeals cases, requiring his review to conclude the matter while serving as associate justice.
The Speeches and Writings File series (1939-2005) consists primarily of speeches and articles by Stevens. The bulk of the series comprises Stevens’s speeches, mostly typescripts with a few annotations. The articles by Stevens consist chiefly of reprints and photocopies of published articles.
The Miscellany series (1969-2001) documents Stevens’s work as chief counsel for the Special Commission in Relation to No. 39797, a commission appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to investigate bribery allegations relating to the Illinois court’s decision in People v. Isaacs (docket number 39797). The probe’s findings resulted chiefly in the resignation of two Illinois justices and brought Stevens public recognition, leading to his appointment as judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit and ultimately to his appointment to the Supreme Court. Also represented are a few files chronicling Stevens’s stint as a judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, including orders written by Stevens and files documenting his sittings on three-judge federal district court cases.
The Restricted File series (2005-2019) features material separated from the Supreme Court File and the Speeches and Writings File series. The majority of the Restricted File comprises opinion files, including two notable dissents by Stevens relating to the Second Amendment and gun rights (District of Columbia v. Heller) and campaign finance and free speech (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission). Also present in this series is Stevens’s opinion for Hamdan v. Rumsfeld in which he wrote for the majority of the Court in a 5-3 decision, finding that using military commissions to try terrorist detainees violated United States law and the Geneva Conventions.