Charles Evans Hughes Sr. was an American statesman, politician and jurist who served as the 11th chief justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he was also the 36th governor of New York, the Republican nominee for president of the United States in the 1916 presidential election, and the 44th United States Secretary of State.
Born to a Welsh immigrant preacher and his wife in Glens Falls, New York, Hughes graduated from Brown University and Columbia Law School and practiced law in New York City. After working in private practice for several years, in 1905 he led successful state investigations into public utilities and the life insurance industry. He won election as the Governor of New York in 1906, and implemented several progressive reforms. In 1910, President William Howard Taft appointed Hughes as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. During his tenure on the Supreme Court, Hughes often joined Associate Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. in voting to uphold state and federal regulations.