born July 23, 1936, Sacramento, Calif., U.S.
U.S. jurist.
A graduate of Harvard Law School, he practiced law in San Francisco and Sacramento before being appointed to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in 1975. He was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1988 by Pres. Ronald Reagan . His record generally reflected his conservative outlook, and he consistently voted against policies such as affirmative action and abortion rights. His episodic departure from conservative jurisprudence stemmed from his civil libertarian perspective on certain individual rights.