The day two Supreme Court justices died

Eighty years ago today, a sitting US Supreme Court justice died unexpectedly in Washington, D.C.

However, as unimaginable as it seems today, the death of Edward Terry Sanford on March 8, 1930, didn’t dominate news reports in the following days.

That’s because on the same day, William Howard Taft, the former president who had later served with Sanford on the high court, also died.

In some ways, it was fitting for the Sanford to pass away on the same day as Taft. Taft, who became chief justice in 1921, nearly a decade after leaving the presidency, is considered by some to have been Sanford’s mentor.