Despite being appointed by Democrat John F. Kennedy, White had a mind of his own and opposed the theory of "substantive due process" which the Court used to justify all manner of judge-made social policies not anchored in the Constitution. White was a consistent, if independent, member of an increasingly conservative majority. A hard-liner on law-and-order, White often spoke for the court in decisions enhancing police authority.The opinion illustrated the unshakeable conservatism of White's jurisprudence, and his belief that the court should confine itself to a narrow legal function, without, as he once wrote, imposing "its own extra-constitutional value preferences". Such views were less common in the 1960s and much of the 1970s. Since the 1980s, they have been the prevailing orthodoxy. His jurisprudence has sometimes been praised for adhering to the doctrine of judicial restraint.
He often parted company with the Court's liberal wing on questions of affirmative action and minority set-aside programs. He voted to strike down an affirmative action plan regarding state contracts in Richmond v. J.A. Croson Co. (1989). On personal liberty issues, White was more likely to cast a conservative vote. He supported restrictions on pornographic materials, rejected special rights for reporters, approved sanctions against flag burners, and voted for greater accommodation between church and state. Although White recognized a constitutional right to privacy in 1965, he consistently voted to sustain state restrictions on abortions. Additionally, White wrote the majority opinion in Bowers v. Hardwick (1986) upholding state sodomy laws against privacy right challenges. Justice White's most consistently conservative rulings occurred in criminal rights cases. He dissented from the Court's liberal rulings in Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) and Miranda v. Arizona (1966) and supported the validity of capital punishment laws. He was a critic of the exclusionary rule in search and seizure cases and authored the 1984 majority opinions limiting that rule.
He was seen as a disappointment by some Kennedy supporters who wished he would have joined the more liberal wing of the court in its opinions.White said that he was most comfortable on Rehnquist's court; he once said of Earl Warren, "I wasn't exactly in his circle."
In this October 8, 1978 letter on Supreme Court letterhead, Justice Byron White acknowledges receipt of "the word from Calvin Coolidge" from Carl L. Shipley of Washington, D.C. Byron White was appointed to the Supreme Court by President John F. Kennedy after a career as a famous football star and Deputy Attorney General under Robert Kennedy. Calvin Coolidge was a considerably more conservative President than JFK who was known for his terse witticisms and one of those was probably what he received from Shipley.
Shipley, the person Justice White wrote this letter to, was a well known District lawyer, Republican delegate to Republican National Convention in 1960 and 1964 and Republican chairman for the District from 1958 to 1968. As the Washington Post noted in his obituary, Mr. Shipley tended to shoot from the hip at times, making politically incorrect comments such as this made in 1967 in regard to some residents of Washington, D.C.: "There are people who just won't work, and we should get rid of them so they won't be standing around on corners and holding up liquor stores." In any case, Justice White who clearly knew Mr. Shipley's reputation didn't mind corresponding with this conservative and controversial lawyer as shown by this 1978 letter.
Justice Antonin Scalia described White'sbone-crushing handshake as a metaphor for a forceful personality."If there is one adjective that never could, never would, be applied to Byron White, it is wishy-washy," Scalia said. "You always knew where hestood, that he was not likely to be moved, and hoped that he was lining up on your side of scrimmage."