Baker v. Carr

Charles Evans Whittaker served as an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court during the five year period beginning in 1957 and ending in 1962. During his tenure on the High Court, Whittaker's opinions made him known as a "middle-of-the-road conservative." He had been nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower after only one year as a judge for the Eighth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, a prior appointment also made by Eisenhower.

Whittaker hailed from Troy, Kansas. He was born on 22 February 1901. Although he left school at sixteen to help on the family's farm, he later was accepted to law school. He gained admittance to the bar a year before his graduation which occurred in 1924. For the next 30 years he practiced law in a Kansas City law firm; he made senior partner after two years.

His naming to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri in 1954 was the first in a series in federal appointments made by President Eisenhower. Whittaker's service ended with his retirement from the High Court on 31 March 1962 due to declining health. He died on 26 November 1973.