In partnership with the Robert H. Jackson Center, the Supreme Court Historical Society is pleased to host a conversation with Professors G. Edward White and Gerard Magliocca, authors of two new works that offer fresh perspectives on the life and legacy of Justice Robert H. Jackson.Justice Jackson served as U.S. Solicitor General, U.S. Attorney General, and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, as well as Chief U.S. Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials. Known for his eloquence, independence, and influence on constitutional law, Jackson played a central role in many landmark cases and debates that continue to shape American legal thought.
- Robert H. Jackson: A Life in Judgment, by G. Edward White, is the first full-length biography of Jackson in decades. Drawing on Jackson’s extensive personal papers and oral histories, Professor White traces his extraordinary career—from his beginnings in upstate New York through his service in the Roosevelt administration, his tenure on the Court, and his historic role at Nuremberg.
- The Actual Art of Governing: Justice Robert H. Jackson’s Concurring Opinion in the Steel Seizure Case, by Gerard N. Magliocca, examines Jackson’s influential concurrence in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952). His opinion, addressing the limits of executive and congressional power, remains one of the most cited Supreme Court writings on the separation of powers.
About the Speakers:
G. Edward White is the David and Mary Harrison Distinguished Professor at the University of Virginia School of Law and the author of twenty books on law and legal history, including the three-volume Law in American History and Oliver Wendell Holmes: Sage of the Supreme Court.
Gerard N. Magliocca is the Samuel R. Rosen Professor at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law and the author of five books and numerous articles on constitutional law. His most recent book, Washington’s Heir, was awarded the Society’s 2025 Erwin Griswold Prize.