Willis Van Devanter (April 17, 1859 – February 8, 1941) was an American lawyer who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1911 to 1937. He was a staunch conservative and was regarded as a part of the Four Horsemen, the conservative bloc which dominated the Supreme Court during much of the 1930s.
Willis Van Devanter
Supreme Court of the United States
Born 1859 in Marion, IN
Died 1941 in Washington, DC
FJC ID: 2440
Career output and lasting influence
Opinions attributed per year · peak 15/year
Later decisions citing those opinions, per year · peak 532/year
U.S. Circuit Courts for the Eighth Circuit · 1903–1910Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals · 1903–1910Supreme Court of the United States · 1910–1941
Both charts share the same year axis. Opinion counts include only opinions in our corpus attributed to this judge so far — a year at zero can mean an attribution gap, not judicial silence. Influence typically outlasts the career: citations keep climbing after the last opinion.
- Gender
- Male
- Race
- White
Prior employment
U.S. Department of the InteriorAssistant attorney general · 1896–1903- Columbian University School of LawProfessor · 1897–1903
- Private practice, Cheyenne, Wyoming1890–1897
- Wyoming Supreme CourtChief justice · 1890
- Cheyenne, Wyoming TerritoryCity attorney · 1887–1888
- Wyoming TerritoryTerritorial representative · 1888
- Private practice, Cheyenne, Wyoming Territory1884–1887
- commission to revise the statutes of Wyoming TerritoryMember · 1886
- Private practice, Marion, Indiana1881–1884
Appointments
1910–1941 · Appointed by William H. Taft (Republican)Term ended: Death
1903–1910 · Appointed by Theodore Roosevelt (Republican)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position- 1903–1910 · Appointed by Theodore Roosevelt (Republican)Term ended: Appointment to Another Judicial Position
Education
- Cincinnati Law School (now University of Cincinnati College of Law)LL.B. · 1881