Retirement and Final Years
Van Devanter retired as a Supreme Court Justice on May 18, 1937, after Congress voted full pay for justices over seventy who retired. He acknowledged that he might have retired five years earlier due to illness, if not for his concern about New Deal legislation, and that he depended upon his salary for sustenance. In 1932, five years prior to Van Devanter's retirement, Congress had halved Supreme Court pensions. Congress had temporarily restored them to full pay in February 1933, only to see them halved again the next month by the Economy Act. Van Devanter was replaced by Justice Hugo Black, appointed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
He died in Washington, D.C., and was buried there in Rock Creek Cemetery. His gravesite is marked by "a stark 'VAN DEVANTER' — nothing else" which tops the family plot. However, his grave does have his name and dates on the stone.
Van Devanter's personal and judicial papers are archived at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress, where they are available for research.
Read more about this topic: Willis Van Devanter
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