John Paul Stevens was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1975 until his voluntary retirement in 2010. At the time of his retirement, he was the second-oldest-serving justice in the history of the court. The oldest-serving justice was Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who was 90 years and 309 days at the time of his retirement in 1932. and the third-longest-serving justice. His long tenure saw him write for the court on most issues of American law, including civil liberties, death penalty, government action and intellectual property. In cases involving presidents of the United States, he wrote for the court that they were to be held accountable under American law. A registered Republican when appointed, Stevens was considered to have been on the liberal side of the court at the time of his retirement. Stevens was the longest-lived Supreme Court justice in United States history.