White, Byron Raymond (1917–2002)

US jurist. He worked to elect John F Kennedy to the presidency 1960 and was appointed by him as associate justice of the Supreme Court, serving 1962–93. He was a moderate conservative, usually dissenting on the rights of criminals, but upholding the right of accused citizens to trial by jury.

Born in Fort Collins, Colorado, White graduated from the University of Colorado in 1938. He studied at Oxford University, England, as a Rhodes scholar in 1939 and entered Yale Law School in 1940.

He graduated from Yale in 1946 after service with the US navy in World War II. He served as deputy attorney general 1961–62, before being appointed to the Supreme Court. He served as law clerk 1946–47 to Supreme Court associate justice Frederick Vinson.

He also played professional football, with the Pittsburgh Pirates (now Steelers) in 1938 and for the Detroit Lions 1940–41. He was elected to the Football Hall of Fame in 1954.