Justice Paul Stevens--Memory Eternal

Over the past week, Retired Associate of the United States Supreme Court John Paul Stevens, passed away at the age of 99.  He is currently the third-longest serving Justice on the United States Supreme Court. He passed away peacefully on July 16 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, surrounded by his family.

Justice Stevens was born in Chicago in 1920 and attended the University of Chicago and joined the Navy in 1941. He was an Intelligence Officer and won a Bronze Star as a codebreaker against the Japanese. Once the war ended, Justice Stevens proceeded to obtain a J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law, graduating magna cum laude. Because Justice Stevens accelerated in law school, he was offered a clerkship in the Supreme Court to Justice Wiley Rutledge. Stevenson later returned to Chicago and joined a firm, practicing antitrust law, which helped him grow fame as one of the few antitrust litigators in the United States. In 1970, he was appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court to investigate corruption by former Chief Justice Ray Klingbiel and Chief Justice Roy Solfisburg.

In 1975, President Gerald Ford nominated John Paul Stevens to serve on the Supreme Court as a Republican Justice, even though he was known as one of the more liberal justices on the bench. Justice Stevens was known for his stances on American liberties, the Fourth Amendment, intellectual property, and mainly the death penalty. Even after retirement in 2010, Justice Stevens took positions on specific issues, such as gun violence and wrote essays and books about his career. Even though Justice Stevens has passed away, he will be remembered from the significant impact he had on the United States while serving his country inside the courtroom.

Alexandra Albanese, a State and Federal Communications intern and a student at American University researched and wrote the article.