Wiley Blount Rutledge was born July 20, 1894 in Cloverport, Kentucky. He married Annabel Person in 1917, the same year he was admitted to the Colorado bar. The family grew to include three children, Mary Lou, Jean Ann, and Neal.

Wiley B. Rutledge served as dean of the College of Law at Iowa from 1935 until 1939. He was also a professor of law at the University of Colorado, and professor and dean at Washington University, St. Louis. From Iowa, Rutledge was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, and later to the U.S. Supreme Court. Justice Rutledge died September 10, 1949, at age 55.

The many writings on Rutledge's career include a sketch in the Dictionary of American Biography, supplement 4, and articles by Irving Brant and W. Willard Wirtz in the Iowa Law Review, Summer 1950. Both articles also appear in the Indiana Law Review, Summer 1950.