Justice Frankfurter
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Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Austrian-American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which period he was a noted advocate of
judicial restraint Judicial restraint is a judicial interpretation that recommends favoring the status quo in judicial activities; it is the opposite of judicial activism. Aspects of judicial restraint include the principle of stare decisis (that new decisions shou ...
in its judgements. Frankfurter was born in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
, immigrating to
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at the age of 12. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Frankfurter worked for Henry L. Stimson, the U.S. Secretary of War. During
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, Frankfurter served as Judge Advocate General. After the war, he helped found the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
and returned to his position as a professor at Harvard Law School. He became a friend and adviser of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, who appointed him to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of Benjamin N. Cardozo. Although Frankfurter's personal political views were strongly liberal, his experience with the Supreme Court's ''Lochner ''era in which conservative justices struck down economic regulations, led him to oppose judicial intervention and his jurisprudence was generally conservative. Frankfurter served on the Court until his retirement in 1962, and was succeeded by
Arthur Goldberg Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908January 19, 1990) was an American statesman and jurist who served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of Labor, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the 6th United States Ambassador to ...
. Frankfurter wrote the Court's majority opinions in cases such as '' Minersville School District v. Gobitis'', ''
Gomillion v. Lightfoot ''Gomillion v. Lightfoot'', 364 U.S. 339 (1960), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that found an electoral district with boundaries created to disenfranchise African Americans violated the Fifteenth Amendment. Bac ...
'', and '' Beauharnais v. Illinois''. He wrote dissenting opinions in notable cases such as '' Baker v. Carr'', '' West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette'', '' Glasser v. United States'', and '' Trop v. Dulles''.


Early life and education

Frankfurter was born into an Ashkenazi Jewish family on November 15, 1882, in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
(then part of
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
). He was the third of six children of Leopold Frankfurter, a merchant, and Emma (Winter) Frankfurter. His uncle, Solomon Frankfurter, was head librarian at the Vienna University Library. Frankfurter's forebears had been
rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
s for generations. In 1894, twelve-year-old Frankfurter and his family immigrated to the United States, settling in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
's Lower East Side, a dense center of immigrants. Frankfurter attended P.S. 25 and Townsend Harris High School, where he excelled at his studies and enjoyed playing
chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...
and shooting
craps Craps is a dice game in which players bet on the outcomes of the roll of a pair of dice. Players can wager money against each other (playing "street craps") or against a bank ("casino craps"). Because it requires little equipment, "street ...
on the street. He spent many hours reading at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and attending political lectures, usually on subjects such as
trade unionism A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (su ...
,
socialism Socialism is a left-wing Economic ideology, economic philosophy and Political movement, movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to Private prop ...
, and
communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...
. After graduating in 1902 from City College of New York, where he was inducted into
Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
, Frankfurter worked for the Tenement House Department of New York City to raise money for law school. He applied successfully to Harvard Law School, where he excelled academically and socially. He became lifelong friends with
Walter Lippmann Walter Lippmann (September 23, 1889 – December 14, 1974) was an American writer, reporter and political commentator. With a career spanning 60 years, he is famous for being among the first to introduce the concept of Cold War, coining the te ...
and
Horace Kallen Horace Meyer Kallen (August 11, 1882 – February 16, 1974) was a German-born American philosopher who supported pluralism and Zionism. Biography Horace Meyer Kallen was born on August 11, 1882, in the town of Bernstadt, Prussian Silesia (now Bi ...
, became an editor of the '' Harvard Law Review'', and graduated first in his class with one of the best academic records since Louis Brandeis.


Early career

Frankfurter's legal career began when he joined the New York law firm of Hornblower, Byrne, Miller & Potter in 1906. In the same year, he was hired as the assistant to
Henry Stimson Henry Lewis Stimson (September 21, 1867 – October 20, 1950) was an American statesman, lawyer, and Republican Party politician. Over his long career, he emerged as a leading figure in U.S. foreign policy by serving in both Republican and D ...
, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. During this period, Frankfurter read Herbert Croly's book '' The Promise of American Life'', and became a supporter of the New Nationalism and of
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
. In 1911, President
William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...
appointed Stimson as his
Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the U.S. president's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War", had been appointed to serve the Congress of the ...
, and Stimson appointed Frankfurter as law officer of the
Bureau of Insular Affairs The Bureau of Insular Affairs was a division of the United States Department of War that oversaw civil aspects of the administration of several territories from 1898 until 1939. History The bureau was created 13 December 1898 as the Division of ...
. Frankfurter worked directly for Stimson as his assistant and confidant. His government position restricted his ability to publicly voice his Progressive views, though he expressed his opinions privately to friends such as Judge Learned Hand. In 1912 Frankfurter supported the Bull Moose campaign to return Roosevelt to the presidency, and was bitterly disappointed when
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
was elected. He became increasingly disillusioned with the established parties, and described himself as "politically homeless".


First World War

Frankfurter's work in Washington had impressed the faculty at Harvard Law School, who used a donation from the financier
Jacob Schiff Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Ja ...
to create a position for him there after Louis Brandeis suggested that Schiff do this. He taught mainly
administrative law Administrative law is the division of law that governs the activities of executive branch agencies of government. Administrative law concerns executive branch rule making (executive branch rules are generally referred to as "regulations"), ad ...
and occasionally criminal law. With fellow
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
James M. Landis, he advocated judicial restraint in dealing with government misdeeds, including greater freedom for administrative agencies from judicial oversight. He also served as counsel for the
National Consumers League The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is an American consumer organization. The National Consumers League is a private, nonprofit advocacy group representing consumers on marketplace and workplace issues. The NCL provides government, bu ...
, arguing for Progressive causes such as minimum wage and restricted work hours. He was involved in the early years of ''
The New Republic ''The New Republic'' is an American magazine of commentary on politics, contemporary culture, and the arts. Founded in 1914 by several leaders of the progressive movement, it attempted to find a balance between "a liberalism centered in hu ...
'' magazine after its founding by Herbert Croly. When the United States entered World War I in 1917, Frankfurter took a special leave from Harvard to serve as special assistant to the Secretary of War Newton D. Baker. He was appointed Judge Advocate General, supervising military
courts-martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...
for the War Department. He was commissioned a major in the Officers Reserve Corps but was not called to active duty. In September 1917, he was appointed counsel to a commission, the President's Mediation Committee, established by President Wilson to resolve major strikes threatening war production. Among the disturbances he investigated were the 1916 Preparedness Day Bombing in San Francisco, where he argued strongly that the radical leader
Thomas Mooney Thomas Joseph Mooney (December 8, 1882 – March 6, 1942) was an American political activist and labor leader, who was convicted with Warren K. Billings of the San Francisco Preparedness Day Bombing of 1916. It quickly became apparent that ...
had been framed and required a new trial. He also examined the copper industry in Arizona, where industry bosses solved industrial relations problems by having more than 1,000 strikers forcibly deported to New Mexico. Overall, Frankfurter's work gave him an opportunity to learn firsthand about labor politics and extremism, including anarchism, communism and
revolutionary socialism Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revolut ...
. He came to sympathize with labor issues, arguing that "unsatisfactory, remediable social conditions, if unattended, give rise to radical movements far transcending the original impulse." His activities led the public to view him as a radical lawyer and supporter of radical principles. Former President
Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
accused him of being "engaged in excusing men precisely like the Bolsheviki in Russia".


Post First World War

As the war drew to a close, Frankfurter was among the nearly one hundred intellectuals who signed a statement of principles for the formation of the League of Free Nations Associations, intended to increase United States participation in international affairs. Frankfurter was encouraged by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis to become more involved in
Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
. With Brandeis he lobbied President Wilson to support the Balfour Declaration, a British government statement supporting the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. In 1918, he participated in the founding conference of the American Jewish Congress in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, creating a national democratic organization of Jewish leaders from all over the US. In 1919, Frankfurter served as a
Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after '' Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...
delegate to the Paris Peace Conference.


Marriage and family

In 1919, Frankfurter married Marion Denman, a Smith College graduate and the daughter of a Congregational minister. They married after a long and difficult courtship, and against the wishes of his mother, who was disturbed by the prospect of her son marrying outside the Jewish faith. Frankfurter was a non-practicing Jew, and regarded religion as "an accident of birth". Frankfurter was a domineering husband and Denman suffered from frail health. She suffered frequent mental breakdowns. The couple had no children.


Founding ACLU

Frankfurter's activities continued to attract attention for their alleged radicalism. In November 1919, he chaired a meeting in support of American recognition of the newly created
Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
. In 1920, Frankfurter helped to found the
American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
. Following the arrest of suspected communist radicals in 1919 and 1920 during the Palmer raids, Frankfurter, together with other prominent lawyers including Zechariah Chafee, signed an ACLU report which condemned the "utterly illegal acts committed by those charged with the highest duty of enforcing the laws" and noted they had committed entrapment, police brutality, prolonged incommunicado detention, and violations of due process in court. Frankfurter and Chafee also submitted briefs to a
habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
application to the Massachusetts Federal District Court. Judge George W. Anderson ordered the discharge of twenty aliens, and his denunciation of the raids effectively ended them. It was during this time that
J. Edgar Hoover John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was an American law enforcement administrator who served as the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation  ...
followed Frankfurter, referring to him as "the most dangerous man in the United States", and describing him in a report as a "disseminator of Bolshevik propaganda". In 1921, Frankfurter was given a chair at Harvard Law School, where he continued progressive work on behalf of socialists and oppressed and religious minorities. When
A. Lawrence Lowell Abbott Lawrence Lowell (December 13, 1856 – January 6, 1943) was an American educator and legal scholar. He was President of Harvard University from 1909 to 1933. With an "aristocratic sense of mission and self-certainty," Lowell cut a large f ...
, the President of Harvard University, proposed to limit the enrollment of Jewish students, Frankfurter worked with others to defeat the plan. In the late 1920s, he attracted public attention when he supported calls for a new trial for
Sacco and Vanzetti Nicola Sacco (; April 22, 1891 – August 23, 1927) and Bartolomeo Vanzetti (; June 11, 1888 – August 23, 1927) were Italian immigrant anarchists who were controversially accused of murdering Alessandro Berardelli and Frederick Parmenter, a ...
, two Italian immigrant anarchists who had been sentenced to death on robbery and murder charges. Frankfurter wrote an influential article for ''
The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
'' and subsequently a book, ''The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti: A Critical Analysis for Lawyers and Laymen''. He critiqued the prosecution's case and the judge's handling of the trial; he asserted that the convictions were the result of anti-immigrant prejudice and enduring anti-radical hysteria of the Red Scare of 1919–20. His activities further isolated him from his Harvard colleagues and from Boston society.


Adviser to President Roosevelt

Following the inauguration of
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
in 1933, Frankfurter quickly became a trusted and loyal adviser to the new president. Frankfurter was considered to be liberal and advocated progressive legislation. He argued against the economic plans of Raymond Moley, Adolf Berle and Rexford Tugwell, while recognizing the need for major changes to deal with the inequalities of wealth distribution that had led to the devastating nature of the Great Depression. Frankfurter successfully recommended many bright young lawyers toward public service with the New Deal administration; they became known as "Felix's Happy Hot Dogs". Among the most notable of these were Thomas Corcoran, Donald Hiss and Alger Hiss, and Benjamin Cohen. He moved to Washington, D.C., commuting back to Harvard for classes, but felt that he was never fully accepted within government circles. He worked closely with Louis Brandeis, lobbying for political activities suggested by Brandeis. He declined a seat on the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts and, in 1933, the position of
Solicitor General of the United States The solicitor general of the United States is the fourth-highest-ranking official in the United States Department of Justice. Elizabeth Prelogar has been serving in the role since October 28, 2021. The United States solicitor general represent ...
. Long an
anglophile An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents. Etymology The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "frien ...
, Frankfurter had studied at Oxford University in 1920. In 1933–34 he returned to act as visiting Eastman professor in the faculty of Law. A 1935 newspaper article describes the happy hot dogs as: * Dean Acheson, Undersecretary of the
Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or i ...
*
Thomas Gardiner Corcoran Thomas Gardiner Corcoran (December 29, 1900 – December 6, 1981) was one of several advisors in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's brain trust during the New Deal, and later, a close friend and advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson. Early l ...
, legal staff member of the Public Works Administration * James M. Landis, head of the Securities and Exchange Commission * Alger Hiss, "right hand man" of Solicitor General Stanley Forman Reed,
U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...
*
Paul Freund Paul Abraham Freund (February 16, 1908February 5, 1992) was an American jurist and law professor. He taught most of his life at Harvard Law School and is known for his writings on the United States Constitution and the Supreme Court of the United ...
, also legal staff member of the U.S. Department of Justice Other "Frankfurter men" in the New Deal included: * Benjamin V. Cohen, legal staff member of the Public Works Administration * Jerome Frank, counsel to Reconstruction Finance Corporation, former general counsel of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration * Charles Wyzanski, solicitor of the
U.S. Department of Labor The United States Department of Labor (DOL) is one of the United States federal executive departments, executive departments of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government. It is responsible for the administration of fede ...
* Thomas Elliott, general counsel for the new social security organization (
Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify ...
) * Gardner Jackson, formerly assistant consumers' counsel of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration Even after his appointment to the Supreme Court, Frankfurter remained close to Roosevelt. In July 1943, on behalf of the President, Frankfurter interviewed Jan Karski, a member of the Polish resistance who had been smuggled into the Warsaw ghetto and a camp near the Belzec death camp in 1942, in order to report back on what is now known as the Holocaust. Frankfurter greeted Karski's report with skepticism, later explaining: "I did not say that he was lying, I said that I could not believe him. There is a difference."


Supreme Court justice

Following the death of Supreme Court associate justice Benjamin N. Cardozo in July 1938, President Roosevelt turned to Frankfurter for recommendations of prospective candidates to fill the vacancy. Finding none on the list to suit his criteria, Roosevelt
nominated A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * ...
Frankfurter. Frankfurter's nomination quickly became highly controversial, and a number of witnesses gave testimony in opposing the nomination during the
confirmation hearing A United States congressional hearing is the principal formal method by which United States congressional committees collect and analyze information in the early stages of legislative policymaking. Whether confirmation hearings (a procedure unique ...
before the
Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations ...
. In addition to the objection that he was considered to be the president's unofficial advisor, that he was affiliated with special interest groups, that there were now no justices from west of the Mississippi, opponents pointed to Frankfurter as foreign-born and deemed to be affiliated with an anti-Christian movement viewed as part of a broader Communist infiltration into the country. As a result, the Judiciary Committee requested that Frankfurter appear before it and answer questions from the committee. He agreed, but only to address what he considered to be slanderous allegations against him. He was only the second Supreme Court nominee ever to testify during hearings on their nomination (the first was Harlan F. Stone in 1924), and the first to be requested to do so. Even so, he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate by
voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by responding vo ...
on January 17, 1939. Frankfurter served from January 30, 1939, to August 28, 1962. He wrote 247 opinions for the Court, 132 concurring opinions, and 251 dissents. He became the court's most outspoken advocate of
judicial restraint Judicial restraint is a judicial interpretation that recommends favoring the status quo in judicial activities; it is the opposite of judicial activism. Aspects of judicial restraint include the principle of stare decisis (that new decisions shou ...
, the view that courts should not interpret the
constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...
in such a way as to impose sharp limits upon the authority of the
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and executive branches. He also usually refused to apply the federal Constitution to the states. In the case of ''
Irvin v. Dowd ''Irvin v. Dowd'', 359 U.S. 394 (1959), was a United States Supreme Court case.. It involved an escaped convict's ( Leslie Irvin) denial of appeal. The convict sought a federal writ of habeas corpus. ''Irvin v. Dowd'' was one of the first of many ...
,'' Frankfurter stated what was for him a frequent theme: "The federal judiciary has no power to sit in judgment upon a determination of a state court... Something that thus goes to the very structure of our federal system in its distribution of power between the United States and the state is not a mere bit of red tape to be cut, on the assumption that this Court has general discretion to see justice done". In his
judicial restraint Judicial restraint is a judicial interpretation that recommends favoring the status quo in judicial activities; it is the opposite of judicial activism. Aspects of judicial restraint include the principle of stare decisis (that new decisions shou ...
philosophy, Frankfurter was strongly influenced by his close friend and mentor
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (March 8, 1841 – March 6, 1935) was an American jurist and legal scholar who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932.Holmes was Acting Chief Justice of the Un ...
, who had taken a firm stand during his tenure on the bench against the doctrine of "economic due process". Frankfurter revered Justice Holmes, often citing Holmes in his opinions. In practice, this meant Frankfurter was generally willing to uphold the actions of those branches against constitutional challenges so long as they did not "shock the conscience". Frankfurter was particularly well known as a scholar of
civil procedure Civil procedure is the body of law that sets out the rules and standards that courts follow when adjudicating civil lawsuits (as opposed to procedures in criminal law matters). These rules govern how a lawsuit or case may be commenced; what kin ...
. Frankfurter's adherence to the judicial restraint philosophy was shown in the 1940 opinion he wrote for the court in '' Minersville School District v. Gobitis,'' a case involving
Jehovah's Witness Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...
es students who had been expelled from school due to their refusal to salute the flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He rejected claims that First Amendment rights should be protected by law, and urged deference to the decisions of the elected school board officials. He stated that religious belief "does not relieve the citizen from the discharge of political responsibilities" and that exempting the children from the flag-saluting ceremony "might cast doubts in the minds of other children" and reduce their loyalty to the nation. Justice
Harlan Fiske Stone Harlan is a given name and a surname which may refer to: Surname * Bob Harlan (born 1936 Robert E. Harlan), American football executive *Bruce Harlan (1926–1959), American Olympic diver *Byron B. Harlan (1886–1949), American politician * Byron ...
issued a lone dissent. The court's decision was followed by hundreds of violent attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses throughout the country. It was overturned in March 1943 by the Supreme Court decision in '' West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette''. A frequent ally, Justice Robert H. Jackson, wrote the majority opinion in this case, which reversed the decision only three years prior in poetic passionate terms as a fundamental constitutional principle, that no government authority has the right to define official dogma and require its affirmation by citizens. Frankfurter's extensive dissent began by raising and then rejecting the notion that as a Jew, he ought "to particularly protect minorities," although he did say that his personal political sympathies were with the majority opinion. He reiterated his view that the role of the Court was not to give an opinion of the "wisdom or evil of a law" but only to determine "whether legislators could in reason have enacted such a law". In '' Baker v. Carr,'' Frankfurter's position was that the federal courts did not have the right to tell sovereign state governments how to apportion their legislatures; he thought the Supreme Court should not get involved in political questions, whether federal or local. Frankfurter's view had won out in the 1946 case preceding ''Baker'', '' Colegrove v. Green'' – there, a 4–3 majority decided that the case was non-justiciable, and the federal courts had no right to become involved in state politics, no matter how unequal district populations had become. But, in the ''Baker'' case, the majority of justices ruled to settle the matter – saying that the drawing of state legislative districts was within the purview of federal judges, despite Frankfurter's warnings that the Court should avoid entering "the political thicket". Frankfurter had previously articulated a similar view in a concurring opinion written for '' Dennis v. United States'' (1951). The decision affirmed, by a 6–2 margin, the conviction of eleven Communist leaders for conspiring to overthrow the US Government under the
Smith Act The Alien Registration Act, popularly known as the Smith Act, 76th United States Congress, 3d session, ch. 439, , is a United States federal statute that was enacted on June 28, 1940. It set criminal penalties for advocating the overthrow of th ...
. In it, he again argued that judges "are not legislators, that direct policy-making is not our province." He recognized that curtailing the free speech of those who advocate the overthrow of government by force also risked stifling criticism by those who did not, writing that " tis a sobering fact that in sustaining the convictions before us we can hardly escape restriction on the interchange of ideas." A pivotal school desegregation case came before the court in ''
Brown v. Board of Education ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
''. It was argued, and was set for reargument when Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson, whose vote was crucial and who ostensibly disposed against overruling ''
Plessy v. Ferguson ''Plessy v. Ferguson'', 163 U.S. 537 (1896), was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that racial segregation laws did not violate the U.S. Constitution as long as the facilities for each race were equal in qualit ...
'', died. Frankfurter reportedly remarked that Vinson's death was the first solid piece of evidence he had seen to prove the existence of God, though some believe the story to be "possibly apocryphal". Frankfurter demanded that the opinion in ''
Brown II ''Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka'', 347 U.S. 483 (1954), was a landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segrega ...
'' (1955) order schools to desegregate with "all deliberate speed". Some school boards used this phrase as an excuse to defy the demands of the first ''Brown'' decision. For fifteen years, schools in many states of the South remained segregated; in some cases systems closed their schools, and new private schools were opened by white parents for their children. In ''
Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education ''Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education'', 396 U.S. 19 (1969), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ordered immediate desegregation of public schools in the American South. It followed 15 years of delays to integrate ...
'', the Court wrote, "The obligation of every school district is to terminate dual school systems at once and to operate now and hereafter only unitary schools." Frankfurter's "all deliberate speed" formula was intended to constrain the federal judiciary toward a gradualist approach to school integration, but his formula backfired. By divorcing the plaintiff's injury from the remedy afforded, ''Brown II'' gave birth to modern Public Law Litigation, which today affords federal courts broad power to reform state institutions. Frankfurter was hands-off in the area of business. In the 1956 government case against DuPont, started because DuPont seemed to have maneuvered its way into a preferential relationship with GM, Frankfurter refused to find a conspiracy, and said the Court had no right to interfere with the progress of business. Here again, Frankfurter opposedand lost out tothe views of the court majority made up of Justices Warren, Black, Douglas and Brennan. Later in his career, Frankfurter's judicial restraint philosophy frequently put him on the dissenting side of ground-breaking decisions taken by the
Warren Court The Warren Court was the period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States during which Earl Warren served as Chief Justice. Warren replaced the deceased Fred M. Vinson as Chief Justice in 1953, and Warren remained in office until ...
to end discrimination. Frankfurter believed that the authority of the Supreme Court would be reduced if it went too strongly against public opinion: he sometimes went to great lengths to avoid unpopular decisions, including fighting to delay court decisions against laws prohibiting racial intermarriage. For the October 1948 court term, Frankfurter hired William Thaddeus Coleman Jr., the first African American to serve as a Supreme Court law clerk. In 1960, despite a recommendation from the
dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...
of Harvard Law School, Frankfurter turned down
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; ; March 15, 1933September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death in 2020. She was nominated by Presiden ...
for a clerkship position because of her gender. She later became an associate justice of the Supreme Court herself, and was the first Jewish woman to do so. Frankfurter's specific seat later came to be informally known as the "Jewish seat," as between 1932 and 1969 it was occupied by four consecutive Jewish justices: Cardozo, Frankfurter, Goldberg, and Fortas. From 1994 to 2022, the seat was occupied by Stephen G. Breyer, who is also Jewish.


Relationships with fellow justices

Throughout his career on the court, Frankfurter was a large influence on many justices, such as Tom C. Clark,
Harold Hitz Burton Harold Hitz Burton (June 22, 1888 – October 28, 1964) was an American politician and lawyer. He served as the 45th mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, as a U.S. Senator from Ohio, and as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United Sta ...
,
Charles Evans Whittaker Charles Evans Whittaker (February 22, 1901 – November 26, 1973) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1957 to 1962. After working in private practice in Kansas City, Missouri, he was nominated for the United States Di ...
, and
Sherman Minton Sherman "Shay" Minton (October 20, 1890 – April 9, 1965) was an American politician and jurist who served as a U.S. senator from Indiana and later became an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; he was a member of the ...
. He generally attempted to influence any new justice coming in, though he managed to repel William J. Brennan, Jr. – who had voted with Frankfurter half the time in his first year, but then opposed him after Frankfurter's attempts at inculcation. Frankfurter turned against Brennan completely after the case of ''
Irvin v. Dowd ''Irvin v. Dowd'', 359 U.S. 394 (1959), was a United States Supreme Court case.. It involved an escaped convict's ( Leslie Irvin) denial of appeal. The convict sought a federal writ of habeas corpus. ''Irvin v. Dowd'' was one of the first of many ...
''. Other justices who received the Frankfurter treatment of flattery and instruction were Burton, Fred M. Vinson, and
John Marshall Harlan II John Marshall Harlan (May 20, 1899 – December 29, 1971) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971. Harlan is usually called John Marshall Harlan II to distinguish him ...
. With Vinson, who became Chief Justice, Frankfurter feigned deference, though he sought influence. Some, possibly apocryphal, reports have Frankfurter remarking that Vinson's death in 1953 was the first solid piece of evidence he had seen to prove the existence of God. Frankfurter was in his time the leader of the conservative faction of the Supreme Court; he would for many years feud with liberals like Justices Hugo Black and
William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was known for his strong progressive and civil libertarian views, and is often ci ...
. He often complained that they "started with a result" and that their work was "shoddy," "result-oriented," and "demagogic". Similarly, Frankfurter panned the work of Chief Justice Earl Warren as "dishonest nonsense". Frankfurter saw justices with ideas different from his own as part of a more liberal "Axis" – these opponents were chiefly Black and Douglas, but would also include
Frank Murphy William Francis Murphy (April 13, 1890July 19, 1949) was an American politician, lawyer and jurist from Michigan. He was a Democrat who was named to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1940 after a political career that included serving ...
and Wiley Blount Rutledge; the group would for years oppose Frankfurter's judicially restrained ideology. Douglas, Murphy, and then Rutledge were the first justices to agree with Hugo Black's notion that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the
Bill of Rights A bill of rights, sometimes called a declaration of rights or a charter of rights, is a list of the most important rights to the citizens of a country. The purpose is to protect those rights against infringement from public officials and pr ...
protection into it; this view would later mostly become law, during the period of the Warren Court. For his part, Frankfurter would assert that Black's incorporation theory would usurp state control over criminal justice by limiting states' development of new interpretations of criminal due process. Frankfurter's argumentative style was not popular among his Supreme Court colleagues. "All Frankfurter does is talk, talk, talk," Chief Justice Earl Warren complained. "He drives you crazy." Hugo Black reported that "I thought Felix was going to hit me today, he got so mad." In the Court's biweekly conference sessions, traditionally a period for vote-counting, Frankfurter had the habit of lecturing his colleagues for forty-five minutes at a time or more with his book resting on a podium. Frankfurter's ideological opponents would leave the room or read their mail while he lectured. Frankfurter was close friends with Justice Robert H. Jackson. The two exchanged much correspondence over their mutual dislike for Justice
William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, who was known for his strong progressive and civil libertarian views, and is often ci ...
. Frankfurter also had a strong influence over Jackson's opinions. Frankfurter was universally praised for his work before coming to the Supreme Court, and was expected to influence it for decades past the death of FDR. However, Frankfurter's influence over other justices was limited by his failure to adapt to new surroundings, his style of personal relations (relying heavily on the use of flattery and ingratiation, which ultimately proved divisive), and his strict adherence to the ideology of
judicial restraint Judicial restraint is a judicial interpretation that recommends favoring the status quo in judicial activities; it is the opposite of judicial activism. Aspects of judicial restraint include the principle of stare decisis (that new decisions shou ...
. Michael E. Parrish, professor at UCSD, said of Frankfurter: "History has not been kind to im.. there is now almost a universal consensus that Frankfurter the justice was a failure, a judge who... became 'uncoupled from the locomotive of history' during the Second World War, and who thereafter left little in the way of an enduring jurisprudential legacy."


Retirement and death

Frankfurter retired in 1962 after suffering a stroke and was succeeded by
Arthur Goldberg Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908January 19, 1990) was an American statesman and jurist who served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of Labor, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the 6th United States Ambassador to ...
. He was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...
by
John F. Kennedy John Fitzgerald Kennedy (May 29, 1917 – November 22, 1963), often referred to by his initials JFK and the nickname Jack, was an American politician who served as the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination ...
in 1963. Felix Frankfurter died from
congestive heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome, a group of signs and symptoms caused by an impairment of the heart's blood pumping function. Symptoms typically include shortness of breath, excessive fatigue, ...
in 1965 at the age of 82. His remains are interred in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in
Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston ...
.


Legacy

There are two extensive collections of Frankfurter's papers: one at the Manuscript Division of the
Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...
and the other at Harvard University. Both are fully open for research and have been distributed to other libraries on microfilm. However, in 1972 it was discovered that more than a thousand pages of his archives, including his correspondence with
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
and others, had been stolen from the Library of Congress; the crime remains unsolved and the perpetrator and motive are unknown. A chapter of the international youth-led fraternal organization for Jewish teenagers
Aleph Zadik Aleph The Grand Order of the Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA or ) is an international youth-led fraternal organization for Jewish teenagers, founded in 1924 and currently existing as the male wing of BBYO Inc., an independent non-profit organization. It is for ...
in Scottsdale, Arizona, is named in his honor. A chapter of the international legal fraternal organization
Phi Alpha Delta Phi Alpha Delta Law Fraternity, International ( or P.A.D.) is the largest professional law fraternity in the United States. Founded in 1902, P.A.D. has since grown to 717 established pre-law, law, and alumni chapters and over 330,000 initiated m ...
at Suffolk University in Boston, Massachusetts, is named in his honor.


Works

Frankfurter published several books including ''Cases Under the Interstate Commerce Act''; '' The Business of the Supreme Court'' (1927); ''Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court'' (1938); ''The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti'' (1927) and ''Felix Frankfurter Reminisces'' (1960). * Frankfurter, Felix, and James M. Landis. 1925. "The Compact Clause of the Constitution: A Study in Interstate Adjustments." '' Yale Law Journal'' 34, No. 7: 685–758.


See also

* Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States *
List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...
*
List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 2) Law clerks have assisted the justices of the United States Supreme Court in various capacities since the first one was hired by Justice Horace Gray in 1882. Each justice is permitted to have between three and four law clerks per Court term. Mo ...
* List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office * United States Supreme Court cases during the Hughes Court * United States Supreme Court cases during the Stone Court * United States Supreme Court cases during the Vinson Court * United States Supreme Court cases during the Warren Court


References


Further reading

*Abraham, Henry J. (1992), ''Justices and Presidents: A Political History of Appointments to the Supreme Court. 3d. ed.'' New York: Oxford University Press. . *. *. *Cushman, Clare, ''The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies,1789–1995'' (2nd ed.) (Supreme Court Historical Society), (Congressional Quarterly Books, 2001) ; . *. *. *. * *Frankfurter, Felix (1927), ''Mr. Justice Holmes and the Constitution: A Review of His Twenty-Five Years on the Supreme Court''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Dunster House Bookshop. *Frankfurter, Felix
"Mr. Justice Holmes and the Constitution: A Review of His Twenty-Five Years on the Supreme Court".
Harvard Law Review, Vol. 41, No. 2 (December 1927), pp. 121-173. *Frankfurter, Felix, ed. (1931), ''Mr. Justice Holmes''. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc. *Frankfurter, Felix (1938), ''Mr. Justice Holmes and the Supreme Court''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. *Frankfurter, Felix, '' Mr. Justice Cardozo and Public Law'',
Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...
39 (1939): 88–118, Harvard Law Review 52 (1939): 440–470, Yale Law Journal 48 (1939): 458–488. *Friedman, Leon and Israel, Fred L. (2013 ed., 4 vols.), ''The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions''. New York: Facts on File, Inc. *. *. *. *. *. *. *Martin, Fenton S. and Goehlert, Robert U. (1990), ''The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography''. Congressional Quarterly Books. . * Murphy, Bruce Allen (1982), ''The Brandeis/Frankfurter Connection: The Secret Political Activities of Two Supreme Court Justices,'' New York:
Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. . * *. *. *Pritchett, C. Herman (1954), ''Civil Liberties and the Vinson Court'',
University of Chicago Press The University of Chicago Press is the largest and one of the oldest university presses in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', ...
. ; . * Schwarz, Jordan A. ''The New Dealers: Power Politics in the Age of Roosevelt'' (Vintage, 2011) pp. 123–137
online
*Snyder, Brad (2022), ''Democratic Justice: Felix Frankfurter, the Supreme Court, and the Making of the Liberal Establishment''. New York: W. W. Norton
excerpt
*. *Urofsky, Melvin I., ''Conflict Among the Brethren: Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas and the Clash of Personalities and Philosophies on the United States Supreme Court'',
Duke Law Journal The ''Duke Law Journal'' is a student-run law review and the premier legal periodical of Duke University School of Law. The journal publishes general-interest articles and student notes in eight issues each year. History and Overview The journa ...
(1988): 71–113. *Urofsky, Melvin I., ''Division and Discord: The Supreme Court under Stone and Vinson, 1941–1953'' (University of South Carolina Press, 1997) . *Urofsky, Melvin I., ''The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary'' (New York: Garland Publishing 1994). 590 pp. ; . *. *.


External links

* The personal papers of Felix Frankfurter are kept at the
Central Zionist Archives
in Jerusalem. The notation of the record group is A264. *
Oyez: U.S. Supreme Court media on Felix Frankfurter


* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frankfurter, Felix 1882 births 1965 deaths 20th-century American judges American Jewish Congress American labor lawyers American legal scholars American legal writers American people of World War I American Zionists American Civil Liberties Union people Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States Austro-Hungarian Jews Burials at Mount Auburn Cemetery City College of New York alumni Franklin D. Roosevelt administration personnel Harvard Law School alumni Harvard Law School faculty Jewish American attorneys New York (state) lawyers Lawyers from New York City Military personnel from New York City Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients Townsend Harris High School alumni United States federal judges appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt United States presidential advisors Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States Assistant United States Attorneys