Wiley Rutledge was President Franklin Delano Roovelt's eighth and last appointment to the Supreme Court. Rutledge had spoken out in support of Roosevelt's court-packing plan while dean of the University of Iowa Law School. Roosevelt appointed him to the federal appellate bench in 1939 where Rutledge demonstrated strong liberal credentials.
Rutledge proved to be a strong liberal on the High Court. He did not see the Fourteenth Amendment as a limitation on the reach of the Bill of Rights. Due process had meaning that might go beyond specific Bill of Rights provisions.
