Minton, Sherman

(1890-1965)

   Born in Georgetown, Indiana, Sherman Minton graduated from Indiana University in 1915 and Yale Law School in 1916 and established a law practice in Albany, Indiana. He served in the infantry in France during World War I and afterward returned to Albany. In 1933, he joined the Indiana Public Service Commission and in 1934 was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate. A supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Minton backed the president during the “court packing” controversy. He also supported Roosevelt’s foreign policy initiatives. As a result he was defeated in the elections of 1940 and in 1941 was appointed to the Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit. In 1949, President Harry S. Truman appointed Minton to the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Wiley B. Rutledge. Minton did not prove as liberal a justice as had been anticipated. He generally voted to uphold federal initiatives like the Federal Loyalty Program and elected to sustain the convictions in Dennis v. United States in 1951. He also supported the administration in Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer in 1952. Minton did, however, back measures against racial discrimination in Shelley v. Kraemer in 1948, Sweatt v. Painter in 1950, and the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka declaring segregation in schools unconstitutional in 1954. He retired due to ill-health in 1956.