Today in Supreme Court History: July 11, 1921

7/11/1921: Chief Justice William Howard Taft takes oath.

Chief Justice William Howard Taft

Comments

[JoeFromtheBronx]

Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are required to take two oaths [judicial and constitutional] before they may execute the duties of their appointed office.

William H. Taft – Took both oaths before A. A. Hoehling, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, on July 11, 1921. On October 3, 1921, he ceremonially took the Judicial Oath again, this time in open court before senior Associate Justice Joseph McKenna.

https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/oath/oathsofthechiefjustices.aspx

[GreenLanternCorps]

The Taft home is a National Historic Site in Cincinnati, Ohio

https://www.nps.gov/wiho/index.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Howard_Taft_National_Historic_Site

[F.D. Wolf]

President-elect Warren Harding and former President William Howard Taft met at Harding's home in Marion, Ohio, on Christmas Day 1920. Taft had been the most recent Republican president (and, at the time, the only living former President of either party), and Harding wanted to get his thoughts about possible appointments in his forthcoming administration. At the end of the hour-long conversation, Harding asked Taft if he would be interested in a Supreme Court appointment, should one become available. Taft had not been expecting the question, and gave a stumbling answer he felt obliged to clarify in a follow-up letter to Harding

I was so much startled by the personal question you asked me that I am afraid that my answer was confused and seemed presumptuous and unappreciative. Ever since I came to the Bar, I have aspired to the Supreme Court as my life’s goal. Twice I was obliged to decline the opportunity for reasons I explained. Then I was young and would have been glad to take an associate justiceship and work up from the junior membership toward the head and perhaps to the chief justiceship if fortune favored. But now I am sixty-three and could not expect to serve more than ten years. I have been President. I signed the commissions of six members of the Court, and three are still on the Court. I joined four presidents of the American Bar Association in petitioning the Senate to reject the nomination of Brandeis as not a fit one to be made and have not changed my mind, and I would feel ill at ease to come into the Court after having been President as the junior of my own appointees and of the man I tried to defeat. Were I Chief Justice I would hope, by reason of having been President, to have some little more influence in securing a greater solidarity of opinion among the judges so necessary to maintain the Court’s influence with the public. It was for this reason that I ventured to say that I could only accept the Chief Justice’s position. The present Chief Justice when I have seen him in the years past has said to me that he was holding on for me and to return the place to a Republican administration. I can’t say that he still feels this way though I know he greatly rejoiced at your election. Even if you conclude that someone else ought to be Chief Justice as well you may, I hope you will believe me when I say that I am deeply grateful for what you said to me yesterday, and that it was one of the great honors of my life and makes this Christmas for me the brightest and happiest of my life.

So, Taft would only be interested in the position of Chief Justice, and, as chance would have it, Chief Justice Edward Douglass White would die two months into the Harding administration, and Harding would appoint Taft to succeed him.

https://supremecourthistory.org/scotus-scoops/taft-wanting-to-be-chief-not-associate-justice/

[Stupid Government Tricks]

Kind of refreshing to know politics has always been scummy.

[JoeFromtheBronx]

"Off the Record on Miranda"

Interesting. Orin Kerr helped with the footnotes. I found it via a library database. Couldn't find free access to the article online yet.

https://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblawg/2025/07/off-the-record-on-miranda.html