Robert H. Jackson

Who was Robert H. Jackson?

Robert Houghwout Jackson was United States Attorney General and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. He was also the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials. A "county-seat lawyer", he remains the last Supreme Court justice appointed who did not graduate from any law school, although he did attend Albany Law School in Albany, New York for one year. He is remembered for his famous advice that "any lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect in no uncertain terms to make no statement to the police under any circumstances" and for his aphorism describing the Supreme Court, "We are not final because we are infallible, but we are infallible only because we are final." Many lawyers revere Justice Jackson as one of the best writers on the court, and one of the most committed to due process protections from overreaching federal agencies.