Lawyers
51 people, across 5 fields.
Field:
All
Government & Politics 40
Ideas & Media 5
Reform & Rights 4
Crime & Notoriety 1
Frontier & Sport 1
Abraham Lincoln 1809–1865Presidents16th President who preserved the Union during the Civil War and issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
Alexander Hamilton 1755–1804Political Leaders & StatecraftFounding Father who established the nation's financial system and co-authored the Federalist Papers.
Barack Obama b. 1961Presidents44th President and first African American to hold the office, known for the Affordable Care Act.
Hillary Clinton b. 1947Political Leaders & StatecraftFirst Lady, Senator, Secretary of State, and first woman to win a major party's presidential nomination.
John Marshall 1755–1835Law & the JudiciaryChief justice who established judicial review and strengthened the Supreme Court and federal government.
Michelle Obama b. 1964Political Leaders & StatecraftFirst Black First Lady who led national campaigns on childhood nutrition and military family support.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg 1933–2020Law & the JudiciarySupreme Court Justice whose advocacy for gender equality made her a cultural icon.
Robert F. Kennedy 1925–1968Political Leaders & StatecraftSenator and Attorney General whose 1968 presidential campaign was cut short by assassination.
Earl Warren 1891–1974Law & the JudiciaryChief justice whose Court transformed civil rights, voting, representation, and criminal procedure.
Kamala Harris b. 1964Political Leaders & StatecraftFirst woman, first Black American, and first Asian American to serve as vice president.
Thurgood Marshall 1908–1993Law & the JudiciaryFirst African American Supreme Court Justice and lead attorney in Brown v. Board of Education.
Patrick Henry 1736–1799Political Leaders & StatecraftRevolutionary orator and Virginia leader remembered for mobilizing resistance and opposing centralized federal power.
Sandra Day O'Connor 1930–2023Law & the JudiciaryFirst woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, appointed by President Reagan.
William Jennings Bryan 1860–1925Political Leaders & StatecraftThree-time Democratic nominee and orator who made monetary reform, popular democracy, and moral politics central national issues.
Daniel Webster 1782–1852Political Leaders & StatecraftSenator and orator whose speeches on the Union and Constitution are among the greatest in history.
Antonin Scalia 1936–2016Law & the JudiciaryJustice whose advocacy of originalism and textualism transformed American legal interpretation.
Aaron Burr 1756–1836Political Leaders & StatecraftThird vice president who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel and was later tried for treason.
Rudy Giuliani b. 1944Political Leaders & StatecraftProsecuting the Mafia Commission and leading New York City through September 11
Louis Brandeis 1856–1941Law & the JudiciaryJustice and reform lawyer who advanced privacy, free speech, and progressive regulation.
Ralph Nader b. 1934Civil Rights & Social ReformConsumer advocate whose auto-safety campaign produced federal vehicle standards and a public-interest lobbying network.
Clarence Thomas b. 1948Law & the JudiciaryLong-serving justice whose originalist opinions have strongly influenced modern conservative jurisprudence.
Samuel Alito b. 1950Law & the JudiciarySupreme Court justice who wrote the Dobbs opinion overturning Roe v. Wade
Clarence Darrow 1857–1938Law & the JudiciaryDefense lawyer in the Leopold and Loeb, Scopes, and Sweet trials
John Roberts b. 1955Law & the JudiciaryChief justice during major decisions on health care, elections, executive power, abortion, and administrative law.
Jerome Powell b. 1953Scholars & Public IntellectualsFederal Reserve chair who steered monetary policy through the pandemic and the inflation surge that followed.
Roger B. Taney 1777–1864Law & the JudiciaryChief justice whose Court shaped federalism but is principally remembered for the disastrous Dred Scott decision.
Anthony Kennedy b. 1936Law & the JudiciaryThirty years as the Supreme Court's median vote, and the author of both Obergefell and Citizens United.
Sonia Sotomayor b. 1954Law & the JudiciarySupreme Court Justice and former Yale Law professor whose memoir chronicles her rise from the Bronx.
William Rehnquist 1924–2005Law & the JudiciaryChief justice who led the Court’s conservative shift toward federalism and limits on congressional power.
Roy Cohn 1927–1986Notorious FiguresChief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy and prosecutor of the Rosenbergs
Howard Cosell 1918–1995SportsThe lawyer turned broadcaster who reported sport as news and stood by Ali when it cost him.
Dean Acheson 1893–1971Political Leaders & StatecraftSecretary of State who helped build NATO and the postwar architecture of American foreign policy.
Elena Kagan b. 1960Law & the JudiciarySupreme Court Justice and former Harvard Law dean known for her sharp legal mind and writing.
Robert H. Jackson 1892–1954Law & the JudiciaryJustice, attorney general, and chief U.S. prosecutor at Nuremberg who influenced constitutional law and international criminal justice.
Brett Kavanaugh b. 1965Law & the JudiciarySupreme Court justice confirmed in 2018 after contested hearings and often a pivotal vote.
John Foster Dulles 1888–1959Political Leaders & StatecraftEisenhower's Secretary of State who built Cold War alliances and advocated massive nuclear retaliation.
Wendell Phillips 1811–1884Civil Rights & Social ReformAbolition's great orator, who refused to disband the movement when slavery ended.
Samuel J. Tilden 1814–1886Political Leaders & StatecraftThe reform governor of New York who won the popular vote in 1876 and lost the presidency
Edwin M. Stanton 1814–1869Political Leaders & StatecraftLincoln's war secretary whose refusal to be fired triggered the impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
Benjamin Harrison 1833–1901PresidentsTwenty-third president who signed the Sherman Antitrust Act and expanded the modern navy.
John Paul Stevens 1920–2019Law & the JudiciaryLong-serving justice whose opinions shaped civil liberties, administrative law, and limits on executive power.
Pauli Murray 1910–1985Civil Rights & Social ReformLawyer and activist whose legal arguments laid groundwork for Brown v. Board and LGBTQ rights.
Franklin Pierce 1804–1869PresidentsFourteenth president whose support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act deepened the sectional crisis over slavery.
Alan Dershowitz b. 1938Scholars & Public IntellectualsHarvard Law professor and constitutional scholar known for his high-profile legal defenses and writings.
Barbara Jordan 1936–1996Political Leaders & StatecraftTexas congresswoman whose Watergate impeachment address made her a leading constitutional voice in Congress.
William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan 1883–1959Military & National SecurityFounder and director of the OSS whose wartime organization became a principal institutional predecessor of the CIA.
Kimberlé Crenshaw b. 1959Scholars & Public IntellectualsLegal scholar who coined the term intersectionality, reshaping understandings of overlapping discrimination.
Joseph Story 1779–1845Law & the JudiciaryEarly Supreme Court justice and legal scholar whose treatises and opinions strengthened federal judicial authority.
Lawrence Lessig b. 1961Scholars & Public IntellectualsHarvard Law professor and activist who founded Creative Commons and campaigns against political corruption.Vine Deloria Jr. 1933–2005Indigenous Leaders & Native NationsWriter and legal scholar whose work transformed public understanding of Native sovereignty, treaty rights, and Indigenous religion.
Amy Wax b. 1953Scholars & Public IntellectualsUniversity of Pennsylvania law professor whose controversial writings on culture and immigration sparked national debate.