Voting Station

Arthur Goldberg

Please vote to return to collections.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice

The Resume

    (August 8, 1908-January 19, 1990)
    Born in Chicago, Illinois
    Legal counsel for the AFL-CIO (1955-61)
    US Secretary of Labor (1961-62)
    Associate Justice of the Supreme Court (1962-65)
    Notable opinions include Escobedo v Illinois (ruling that suspects have a right to legal counsel during police interrogation) and Griswold v Connecticut (establishing a right to privacy)
    US Ambassador to the United Nations (1965-68)
    Received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom (1978)

Why he might be annoying:

    He epitomized the notion of a liberal activist judge.
    He regretted leaving the Supreme Court and tried to get Lyndon Johnson to re-appoint him when Earl Warren resigned.
    He thought that as UN ambassador he would be able negotiate an end to the Vietnam War, but admitted 'I had an exaggerated opinion of my capacities. I thought I could persuade Johnson that we were fighting the wrong war in the wrong place [and] to get out.'
    He ran unsuccessfully for governor of New York, losing to Nelson Rockefeller (1970).
    When, as an attorney, he presented oral arguments before the Supreme Court in Flood v Kuhn (1972), an observer called it 'one of the worst arguments I'd ever heard – by one of the smartest men I've ever known.'

Why he might not be annoying:

    When he was 8, his father died, and to help support the family he worked odd jobs, including fish wrapper, shoe salesman and construction worker.
    He graduated first in his class from law school.
    During World War II, he worked with the OSS (the predecessor of the CIA), organizing anti-Nazi networks wihtin European labor unions.
    LBJ said, 'I've always thought Goldberg was the ablest man in Kennedy's cabinet.'
    When critics said that rulings like Escobedo made the job of the police more difficult, he replied, 'If the exercise of a constitutional right will thwart the effectiveness of a system of law enforcement, then there is something very wrong with that system.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 5 Votes: 60.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 13 Votes: 53.85% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 17 Votes: 52.94% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 7 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 22 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 48 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 11 Votes: 54.55% Annoying