Wiley Rutledge had been sitting on the U.S. Court of Appeals for nearly four years when he was summoned one day to the White House. "Wiley," said President Roosevelt, "we had a number of candidates for the court who were highly qualified but they didn't have geography—you have that."
Wiley Rutledge did, indeed, have geography. Born in Kentucky, the son of a circuit-riding Baptist preacher, he had lived, studied and taught in nine states, from Indiana to New Mexico. But he had more than that to recommend him. Always more a teacher than a practicing lawyer, he had made one reputation...