After serving in the United States Army during World War I, Burton became active in Republican Party politics and won election to the Ohio House of Representatives.

[2] Burton attended Bowdoin College, where he was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa honor society,[3] was quarterback of the football team, and graduated summa cum laude.

Their common great-grandparents were Johannes (Hans) Hitz, first Swiss Consul General to the United States, and his wife Anna Kohler.

[6] Anticipating the United States's involvement in World War I, Burton attended a military training camp in Salt Lake City in 1916.

He was awarded the Belgian Croix de guerre on December 17, 1918, "for extraordinary heroism and gallantry in action during the advance from the Lys to beyond the Scheldt River in the vicinity of Audenarde, Belgium."

His judicial restraint, however, was informed by his political views, not by a legal philosophy, and he tended to defer to legislative and executive branch judgments because he agreed with them personally.

[23] The Cold War led state and federal governments to enact a wide variety of laws and regulations aimed at curbing espionage and subversion.

He joined the 7-to-1 majority in Jencks v. United States, 353 U.S. 657 (1957), in which the Court reversed the conviction of a labor leader under federal loyalty laws because the defendant was not given permission to view the evidence against him.

Burton agreed with the majority, although he added the caveat that such evidence should first be reviewed by a district court judge to ensure that no national security secrets were revealed.

Burton joined the majority only after Black agreed not to extend his ruling to release time programs that involved off-site religious instruction.

Gilbert Thiel suffered a mental breakdown and leapt from a moving Southern Pacific Railroad passenger car, severely injuring himself.

Burton wrote a dissent, joined by justices Minton, Harlan, and Reed, in which he strongly defended the federal nature of criminal procedure.

[41] Legal scholar Eugene V. Rostow declared Burton's decision would usher in a new era of swift, effective antitrust enforcement.

In that case, the Lorain Journal newspaper attempted to use its market power to prevent advertisers from placing ads with a new, competing radio station.

A majority of the justices had disposed of the case in a per curiam decision, citing the ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, 259 U.S. 200 (1922).

Citing extensive statistics about the farm system, broadcasting revenues, and national advertising campaigns, Burton concluded it was unreasonable to claim that major league baseball was not engaged in interstate commerce.

[46][47] A notable exception to the broad application of antitrust law[25] came in Burton's dissent in United States v. E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., 353 U.S. 586 (1957).

[48] Burton, dissenting, was highly skeptical that the Clayton Act applied to vertical integration, and strongly criticized the majority's logic concerning market power.

[53] It surprised legal analysts, then, when Burton joined the unanimous majority in Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 US 1 (1948), a landmark case that held courts could not enforce racially-restrictive real estate covenants.

Heman Marion Sweatt, an African American man, was refused admission to the all-white University of Texas School of Law.

That year, the Supreme Court took up Terry v. Adams, 345 U.S. 461, a case in which a whites-only private political club dominated the local Democratic primary election in an electoral district where Republicans were not competitive.

The federal district and appellate courts had upheld the constitutionality of the system, persuaded that the club was purely private and thus no state action was involved.

At the first post-oral argument conference held by the justices, Burton was adamant that the Supreme Court reverse and declare the practice unconstitutional.

In the first sign that Burton was ready to reverse Plessy, on June 7 he voted with Clark and Minton to grant certiorari to both Brown and another case, Briggs v. Elliott, 342 U.S. 350 (1952).

It was likely that, even if Vinson joined a majority in barring "separate but equal" in public schools, he would do so only on narrow, technical grounds—leading to a plurality decision, a fragmented court, and a ruling lacking in legal and moral weight.

[69] On September 30, President Eisenhower nominated Earl Warren, the outgoing Republican governor of California, to replace Vinson as Chief Justice.

[77] The first post-oral reargument conference was held December 12,[78] at which time Warren made it very clear he would join Black, Burton, Douglas, and Minton in voting to overturn Plessy.

Burton not only pushed for pragmatic solutions, which helped win over Reed, but proved to be articulate, passionate, and persuasive[82]—which few on the Court expected.

[20] As the justices continued to debate its approach to Brown and the other cases in conferences, in memoranda, and privately among themselves, Burton worked to alleviate fears about implementation by talking freely about his experiences as mayor of Cleveland.

Worried about other domestic and international events, Eisenhower asked Burton to consider staying one more year, and make no public announcement.