SUPREME COURT.
Photograph Signed, gelatin silver print, of the Taft Supreme Court, featuring the members of the court seated, with signatures in the lower margin, image size approximately 10 x 13 inches (260 x 330 mm), 425 x 470 mm overall. Framed and matted. Evenly toned, some browning from mat, mat browning and in need of replacement.

The justices depicted here, along with their signatures, are Willis van Devanter, Joseph McKenna, William Howard Taft, Oliver Wendell Holmes, J.C. McReynolds, Pierce Butler, Louis Brandeis, George Sutherland, and Edward T. Sanford. This combination of justices dates the photo to between 1923 and 1925. Taft succeeded Edward Douglass White, whom Taft himself had appointed, to the Chief Justice seat in 1921. Taft campaigned for the job by supporting Warren G. Harding's presidential bid in 1920. When he met with Harding after the election, he was informally offered the appointment, should there be an opening, and he accepted only on the condition that it had to be the Chief Justice chair. White died on May 19, 1921, and Taft was sworn in on July 11. He was the only person to serve as both President and Chief Justice.
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