Wiley Blount Rutledge

Wiley Blount Rutledge served as an associate justice on the Supreme Court from 1943 to 1949. Rutledge was born in Cloverport, Kentucky on July 20, 1894 and received his law degree from the University of Colorado (UC) Law School in 1922. He practiced law for two years in Boulder, CO, before joining the law faculty at UC in 1924. He then accepted a position at Washington University School of Law in 1926, where he became dean of the law school five years later. In 1935, Rutledge accepted a position as both dean and professor at State University of Iowa College of Law. Four years later, President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated him to a newly authorized seat authorized on the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. He was confirmed by the Senate on May 2, 1939 and served in this position until 1943, when President Roosevelt nominated Rutledge to be an associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, to a seat vacated by Justice James F. Byrnes. He served on the Court until he passed away on September 10, 1949.