Journal of supreme court history volume 31 issue 1 failing justice charles evans whittaker of the supreme court by craig alan smith alan c kohn kohn shands elbert gianoulakis giljum llp search for more papers by this author alan c kohn. In the history of the us supreme court associate justice charles evans whittaker 1957 1962 merited several distinctions he was the only missourian and the first native kansan appointed to the court he was one of only two justices to have served at both the federal district and appeals court levels before ascending to the supreme court. Most every student of the supreme court who has evaluated justice charles evans whittaker has found his performance seriously lacking in substance in fact he is often included in the group of failure justices when surveys are taken of academic court watchers. In the history of the us supreme court associate justice charles evans whittaker 1957 1962 merited several distinctions he was the only missourian and the first native kansan appointed to the court he was one of only two justices to have served at both the federal district and appeals court levels before ascending to the supreme court. Charles evans whittaker was an associate justice of the united states supreme court from 1957 to 1962 after working in private practice in kansas city missouri he was nominated for the united states district court for the western district of missouri in 1956 president dwight d eisenhower nominated whittaker to the united states court of appeals for the eighth circuit in 1957 he won confirmation to the supreme court of the united states thus becoming the first individual to serve as a ju