149-717: Terminiello v. City of Chicago , 337 U.S. 1 (1949), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that a " breach of peace " ordinance of the City of Chicago that banned speech that "stirs the public to anger , invites dispute, brings about a condition of unrest , or creates a disturbance" was unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution . Arthur Terminiello,
298-496: A Catholic priest under suspension, gave a speech to the Christian Veterans of America in which he criticized various racial groups and made a number of inflammatory comments. There were approximately 800 people present in the auditorium during the speech and a crowd of approximately 1,000 people outside, protesting the speech. The Chicago Police Department was present, but was unable to maintain order completely. Terminiello
447-519: A habeas corpus 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 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
596-408: A strong central government argued that national laws could be enforced by state courts, while others, including James Madison , advocated for a national judicial authority consisting of tribunals chosen by the national legislature. It was proposed that the judiciary should have a role in checking the executive's power to veto or revise laws. Eventually, the framers compromised by sketching only
745-515: A 6–2 margin, the conviction of eleven Communist leaders for conspiring to overthrow the US Government under the Smith Act . 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 "[it]
894-459: A Catholic or an Episcopalian . Historically, most justices have been Protestants, including 36 Episcopalians, 19 Presbyterians , 10 Unitarians , 5 Methodists , and 3 Baptists . The first Catholic justice was Roger Taney in 1836, and 1916 saw the appointment of the first Jewish justice, Louis Brandeis . In recent years the historical situation has reversed, as most recent justices have been either Catholic or Jewish. Three justices are from
1043-559: A bigger court would reduce the power of the swing justice , ensure the court has "a greater diversity of views", and make confirmation of new justices less politically contentious. There are currently nine justices on the Supreme Court: Chief Justice John Roberts and eight associate justices. Among the current members of the court, Clarence Thomas is the longest-serving justice, with a tenure of 12,091 days ( 33 years, 37 days) as of November 29, 2024;
1192-458: 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. Following
1341-542: A chief justice and five associate justices through the Judiciary Act of 1789 . The size of the court was first altered by the Midnight Judges Act of 1801 which would have reduced the size of the court to five members upon its next vacancy (as federal judges have life tenure ), but the Judiciary Act of 1802 promptly negated the 1801 act, restoring the court's size to six members before any such vacancy occurred. As
1490-514: A commission, to which the Seal of the Department of Justice must be affixed, before the appointee can take office. The seniority of an associate justice is based on the commissioning date, not the confirmation or swearing-in date. After receiving their commission, the appointee must then take the two prescribed oaths before assuming their official duties. The importance of the oath taking is underscored by
1639-466: A conservative shift. It also expanded Griswold ' s right to privacy to strike down abortion laws ( Roe v. Wade ) but divided deeply on affirmative action ( Regents of the University of California v. Bakke ) and campaign finance regulation ( Buckley v. Valeo ). It also wavered on the death penalty , ruling first that most applications were defective ( Furman v. Georgia ), but later that
SECTION 10
#17328528386841788-454: 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 philosophy, Frankfurter was strongly influenced by his close friend and mentor Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. , who had taken
1937-450: 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 . Frankfurter's adherence to
2086-549: A floor vote in the Senate. A president may withdraw a nomination before an actual confirmation vote occurs, typically because it is clear that the Senate will reject the nominee; this occurred with President George W. Bush's nomination of Harriet Miers in 2005. The Senate may also fail to act on a nomination, which expires at the end of the session. President Dwight Eisenhower 's first nomination of John Marshall Harlan II in November 1954
2235-641: A general outline of the judiciary in Article Three of the United States Constitution , vesting federal judicial power in "one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish." They delineated neither the exact powers and prerogatives of the Supreme Court nor the organization of the judicial branch as a whole. The 1st United States Congress provided
2384-549: A home of its own and had little prestige, a situation not helped by the era's highest-profile case, Chisholm v. Georgia (1793), which was reversed within two years by the adoption of the Eleventh Amendment . The court's power and prestige grew substantially during the Marshall Court (1801–1835). Under Marshall, the court established the power of judicial review over acts of Congress, including specifying itself as
2533-456: A justice, but made appointments during their subsequent terms in office. No president who has served more than one full term has gone without at least one opportunity to make an appointment. One of the smallest supreme courts in the world, the U.S. Supreme Court consists of nine members: one chief justice and eight associate justices. The U.S. Constitution does not specify the size of the Supreme Court, nor does it specify any specific positions for
2682-456: 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. 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 . In 1920, Frankfurter helped to found
2831-464: 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 opposed – and lost out to – the 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
2980-450: A president may make temporary appointments to fill vacancies. Recess appointees hold office only until the end of the next Senate session (less than two years). The Senate must confirm the nominee for them to continue serving; of the two chief justices and eleven associate justices who have received recess appointments, only Chief Justice John Rutledge was not subsequently confirmed. No U.S. president since Dwight D. Eisenhower has made
3129-402: A recess appointment to the court, and the practice has become rare and controversial even in lower federal courts. In 1960, after Eisenhower had made three such appointments, the Senate passed a "sense of the Senate" resolution that recess appointments to the court should only be made in "unusual circumstances"; such resolutions are not legally binding but are an expression of Congress's views in
SECTION 20
#17328528386843278-420: A remnant of British tradition, and instead issuing a single majority opinion. Also during Marshall's tenure, although beyond the court's control, the impeachment and acquittal of Justice Samuel Chase from 1804 to 1805 helped cement the principle of judicial independence . The Taney Court (1836–1864) made several important rulings, such as Sheldon v. Sill , which held that while Congress may not limit
3427-457: A serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance, or unrest. See Bridges v. California , 314 U.S. 252, 262, 193, 159 A.L.R. 1346; Craig v. Harney , 331 U.S. 367, 373, 1253. There is no room under our Constitution for a more restrictive view. For the alternative would lead to standardization of ideas either by legislatures, courts, or dominant political or community groups. Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson dissented on
3576-591: A thousand pages of his archives, including his correspondence with Lyndon B. Johnson and others, had been stolen from the Library of Congress; the crime remains unsolved and the perpetrator and motive are unknown. Frankfurter was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1932 and the American Philosophical Society in 1939. Frankfurter published several books including Cases Under
3725-446: 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 . Frankfurter also had a strong influence over Jackson's opinions. Frankfurter was universally praised for his work before coming to
3874-543: A vacancy occurs, the president , with the advice and consent of the Senate , appoints a new justice. Each justice has a single vote in deciding the cases argued before the court. When in the majority, the chief justice decides who writes the opinion of the court ; otherwise, the most senior justice in the majority assigns the task of writing the opinion. On average, the Supreme Court receives about 7,000 petitions for writs of certiorari each year, but only grants about 80. It
4023-459: A violation of equal protection ( United States v. Virginia ), laws against sodomy as violations of substantive due process ( Lawrence v. Texas ) and the line-item veto ( Clinton v. New York ) but upheld school vouchers ( Zelman v. Simmons-Harris ) and reaffirmed Roe ' s restrictions on abortion laws ( Planned Parenthood v. Casey ). The court's decision in Bush v. Gore , which ended
4172-579: A year in their assigned judicial district. Immediately after signing the act into law, President George Washington nominated the following people to serve on the court: John Jay for chief justice and John Rutledge , William Cushing , Robert H. Harrison , James Wilson , and John Blair Jr. as associate justices. All six were confirmed by the Senate on September 26, 1789; however, Harrison declined to serve, and Washington later nominated James Iredell in his place. The Supreme Court held its inaugural session from February 2 through February 10, 1790, at
4321-519: Is 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 . The case was scheduled for re-argument when Chief Justice Fred M. Vinson , whose crucial vote appeared to be opposed to overruling the pro-segregation precedent in Plessy v. Ferguson , died before
4470-587: Is accepted practice in the legislative and executive branches, organizations such as the Federalist Society do officially filter and endorse judges that have a sufficiently conservative view of the law. Jurists are often informally categorized in the media as being conservatives or liberal. Attempts to quantify the ideologies of jurists include the Segal–Cover score , Martin-Quinn score , and Judicial Common Space score. Devins and Baum argue that before 2010,
4619-496: Is not between order and liberty. It is between liberty with order and anarchy without either. There is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrinaire logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact . Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States ( SCOTUS ) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of
Terminiello v. City of Chicago - Misplaced Pages Continue
4768-644: 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." Frankfurter retired in 1962 after suffering a stroke and was succeeded by Arthur Goldberg. The former justice was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President John F. Kennedy in 1963. Frankfurter died from congestive heart failure in 1965 at
4917-422: Is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea. That is why freedom of speech, though not absolute, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire , supra, 315 U.S. at pages 571-572, 62 S.Ct. at page 769, is nevertheless protected against censorship or punishment, unless shown likely to produce a clear and present danger of
5066-450: Is one of the smallest supreme courts in the world. David Litt argues the court is too small to represent the perspectives of a country the United States' size. Lawyer and legal scholar Jonathan Turley has advocated for 19 justices, but with the court being gradually expanded by no more than two new members per subsequent president, bringing the U.S. Supreme Court to a similar size as its counterparts in other developed countries. He says that
5215-548: The 1st Congress through the Judiciary Act of 1789 . As it has since 1869, the court consists of nine justices – the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices – who meet at the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Justices have lifetime tenure , meaning they remain on the court until they die, retire, resign, or are impeached and removed from office. When
5364-654: The American Civil Liberties Union . 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
5513-468: 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
5662-523: The Bureau of Insular Affairs . 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
5811-613: The Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment ( Brown v. Board of Education , Bolling v. Sharpe , and Green v. County School Bd. ) and that legislative districts must be roughly equal in population ( Reynolds v. Sims ). It recognized a general right to privacy ( Griswold v. Connecticut ), limited the role of religion in public school, most prominently Engel v. Vitale and Abington School District v. Schempp , incorporated most guarantees of
5960-520: The National Consumers League , arguing for Progressive causes such as minimum wage and restricted work hours. He was involved in the early years of The New Republic 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
6109-664: The Royal Exchange in New York City, then the U.S. capital. A second session was held there in August 1790. The earliest sessions of the court were devoted to organizational proceedings, as the first cases did not reach it until 1791. When the nation's capital was moved to Philadelphia in 1790, the Supreme Court did so as well. After initially meeting at Independence Hall , the court established its chambers at City Hall. Under chief justices Jay, Rutledge, and Ellsworth (1789–1801),
Terminiello v. City of Chicago - Misplaced Pages Continue
6258-469: The War Industries Board . Overall, Frankfurter's work gave him an opportunity to learn firsthand about labor politics and extremism, including anarchism , communism and revolutionary socialism . 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
6407-411: The assassination of Abraham Lincoln , was denied the opportunity to appoint a justice by a reduction in the size of the court . Jimmy Carter is the only person elected president to have left office after at least one full term without having the opportunity to appoint a justice. Presidents James Monroe , Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George W. Bush each served a full term without an opportunity to appoint
6556-608: The derogation canon and the "plain meaning rule" to strike down progressive laws has been described as liberal by some commentators. Frankfurter served on the Court until his retirement in 1962, and was succeeded by Arthur Goldberg . Frankfurter wrote the Court's majority opinions in cases such as Minersville School District v. Gobitis , Gomillion v. Lightfoot , 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 . Frankfurter
6705-577: The "Jewish seat," as between 1932 and 1969 it was occupied by four consecutive Jewish justices: Cardozo, Frankfurter, Goldberg, and Abe Fortas . From 1994 to 2022, the seat was occupied by Stephen G. Breyer , who is also Jewish. Throughout his career on the court, Frankfurter was a large influence on many justices, such as Tom C. Clark , Harold Hitz Burton , Charles Evans Whittaker , and Sherman Minton . 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
6854-576: The 1916 Preparedness Day Bombing in San Francisco, where he argued strongly that the radical leader Thomas Mooney 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. He also represented the Labor Department on the priorities board of
7003-600: 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." 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
7152-529: The Bill of Rights against the states, prominently Mapp v. Ohio (the exclusionary rule ) and Gideon v. Wainwright ( right to appointed counsel ), and required that criminal suspects be apprised of all these rights by police ( Miranda v. Arizona ). At the same time, the court limited defamation suits by public figures ( New York Times Co. v. Sullivan ) and supplied the government with an unbroken run of antitrust victories. The Burger Court (1969–1986) saw
7301-657: The Bill of Rights, such as in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ( First Amendment ), Heller – McDonald – Bruen ( Second Amendment ), and Baze v. Rees ( Eighth Amendment ). Article II, Section 2, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution , known as the Appointments Clause , empowers the president to nominate and, with the confirmation ( advice and consent ) of the United States Senate, to appoint public officials , including justices of
7450-497: The Constitution , giving a broader reading to the powers of the federal government to facilitate President Franklin D. Roosevelt 's New Deal (most prominently West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish , Wickard v. Filburn , United States v. Darby , and United States v. Butler ). During World War II , the court continued to favor government power, upholding the internment of Japanese Americans ( Korematsu v. United States ) and
7599-410: The Constitution provides that justices "shall hold their offices during good behavior", which is understood to mean that they may serve for the remainder of their lives, until death; furthermore, the phrase is generally interpreted to mean that the only way justices can be removed from office is by Congress via the impeachment process . The Framers of the Constitution chose good behavior tenure to limit
SECTION 50
#17328528386847748-456: The Court never had clear ideological blocs that fell perfectly along party lines. In choosing their appointments, Presidents often focused more on friendship and political connections than on ideology. Republican presidents sometimes appointed liberals and Democratic presidents sometimes appointed conservatives. As a result, "... between 1790 and early 2010 there were only two decisions that the Guide to
7897-676: 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 , 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 . In 1911, President William Howard Taft appointed Stimson as his Secretary of War , and Stimson appointed Frankfurter as law officer of
8046-533: The Reagan administration to the present, the process has taken much longer and some believe this is because Congress sees justices as playing a more political role than in the past. According to the Congressional Research Service , the average number of days from nomination to final Senate vote since 1975 is 67 days (2.2 months), while the median is 71 days (2.3 months). When the Senate is in recess ,
8195-698: The Recess Appointments Clause, the Senate is in session when it says it is, provided that, under its own rules, it retains the capacity to transact Senate business." This ruling allows the Senate to prevent recess appointments through the use of pro-forma sessions . Lifetime tenure of justices can only be found for US federal judges and the State of Rhode Island's Supreme Court justices, with all other democratic nations and all other US states having set term limits or mandatory retirement ages. Larry Sabato wrote: "The insularity of lifetime tenure, combined with
8344-410: The Senate may not set any qualifications or otherwise limit who the president can choose. In modern times, the confirmation process has attracted considerable attention from the press and advocacy groups, which lobby senators to confirm or to reject a nominee depending on whether their track record aligns with the group's views. The Senate Judiciary Committee conducts hearings and votes on whether
8493-870: The Senate, and remained in office until his death in 1811. Two justices, William O. Douglas and Abe Fortas were subjected to hearings from the Judiciary Committee, with Douglas being the subject of hearings twice, in 1953 and again in 1970 and Fortas resigned while hearings were being organized in 1969. On July 10, 2024, Representative Alexandria Ocasia-Cortez filed Articles of Impeachment against justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito , citing their "widely documented financial and personal entanglements." Because justices have indefinite tenure, timing of vacancies can be unpredictable. Sometimes they arise in quick succession, as in September 1971, when Hugo Black and John Marshall Harlan II left within days of each other,
8642-502: 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 . Michael E. Parrish, professor at UCSD, said of Frankfurter: "History has not been kind to [him] ... there
8791-425: The Supreme Court. This clause is one example of the system of checks and balances inherent in the Constitution. The president has the plenary power to nominate, while the Senate possesses the plenary power to reject or confirm the nominee. The Constitution sets no qualifications for service as a justice, such as age, citizenship, residence or prior judicial experience, thus a president may nominate anyone to serve, and
8940-617: The U.S. Supreme Court designated as important and that had at least two dissenting votes in which the Justices divided along party lines, about one-half of one percent." Even in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, Democratic and Republican elites tended to agree on some major issues, especially concerning civil rights and civil liberties—and so did the justices. But since 1991, they argue, ideology has been much more important in choosing justices—all Republican appointees have been committed conservatives and all Democratic appointees have been liberals. As
9089-559: The US. In 1919, Frankfurter served as a Zionist delegate to the Paris Peace Conference . 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
SECTION 60
#17328528386849238-421: The United States . It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on questions of U.S. constitutional or federal law . It also has original jurisdiction over a narrow range of cases, specifically "all Cases affecting Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, and those in which a State shall be Party." In 1803, the Court asserted itself
9387-639: The United States, settling in New York City '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 and shooting craps 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 , socialism , and communism . After graduating in 1902 from City College of New York , where he
9536-482: The age of 70 years 6 months and refused retirement, up to a maximum bench of 15 justices. The proposal was ostensibly to ease the burden of the docket on elderly judges, but the actual purpose was widely understood as an effort to "pack" the court with justices who would support Roosevelt's New Deal. The plan, usually called the " court-packing plan ", failed in Congress after members of Roosevelt's own Democratic Party believed it to be unconstitutional. It
9685-626: The age of 82. His remains are interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts . There are two extensive collections of Frankfurter's papers: one at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress 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
9834-451: The appointments of relatively young attorneys who give long service on the bench, produces senior judges representing the views of past generations better than views of the current day." Sanford Levinson has been critical of justices who stayed in office despite medical deterioration based on longevity. James MacGregor Burns stated lifelong tenure has "produced a critical time lag, with the Supreme Court institutionally almost always behind
9983-536: The behest of Chief Justice Chase , and in an attempt by the Republican Congress to limit the power of Democrat Andrew Johnson , Congress passed the Judicial Circuits Act of 1866, providing that the next three justices to retire would not be replaced, which would thin the bench to seven justices by attrition. Consequently, one seat was removed in 1866 and a second in 1867. Soon after Johnson left office,
10132-525: The case of Edwin M. Stanton . Although confirmed by the Senate on December 20, 1869, and duly commissioned as an associate justice by President Ulysses S. Grant , Stanton died on December 24, prior to taking the prescribed oaths. He is not, therefore, considered to have been a member of the court. Before 1981, the approval process of justices was usually rapid. From the Truman through Nixon administrations, justices were typically approved within one month. From
10281-448: The chaotic and violent situation in which Terminiello was speaking. Jackson framed Terminiello's speech and the violent fracas that surrounded it in the context of the global struggle between fascism and communism in the post- World War II world. He feared that these two groups, dominated as they were by radicals and accustomed to using violent means to propagate their ideology, were a threat to legitimate democratic governments and that
10430-446: The committee reports out the nomination, the full Senate considers it. Rejections are relatively uncommon; the Senate has explicitly rejected twelve Supreme Court nominees, most recently Robert Bork , nominated by President Ronald Reagan in 1987. Although Senate rules do not necessarily allow a negative or tied vote in committee to block a nomination, prior to 2017 a nomination could be blocked by filibuster once debate had begun in
10579-621: 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
10728-503: The court (by order of seniority following the Chief Justice) include: For much of the court's history, every justice was a man of Northwestern European descent, and almost always Protestant . Diversity concerns focused on geography, to represent all regions of the country, rather than religious, ethnic, or gender diversity. Racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in the court increased in the late 20th century. Thurgood Marshall became
10877-406: The court heard few cases; its first decision was West v. Barnes (1791), a case involving procedure. As the court initially had only six members, every decision that it made by a majority was also made by two-thirds (voting four to two). However, Congress has always allowed less than the court's full membership to make decisions, starting with a quorum of four justices in 1789. The court lacked
11026-425: The court is composed of six justices appointed by Republican presidents and three appointed by Democratic presidents. It is popularly accepted that Chief Justice Roberts and associate justices Thomas , Alito , Gorsuch , Kavanaugh , and Barrett, appointed by Republican presidents, compose the court's conservative wing, and that Justices Sotomayor , Kagan , and Jackson , appointed by Democratic presidents, compose
11175-562: The court the most conservative since the 1930s as well as calls for an expansion in the court's size to fix what some saw as an imbalance, with Republicans having appointed 14 of the 18 justices immediately preceding Amy Coney Barrett . In April 2021, during the 117th Congress , some Democrats in the House of Representatives introduced the Judiciary Act of 2021, a bill to expand the Supreme Court from nine to 13 seats. It met divided views within
11324-451: The court's decision was made. 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 (1955) order schools to desegregate with "all deliberate speed". Some school boards used this phrase as an excuse to defy
11473-577: The court's decision would greatly reduce the power of local law enforcement authorities to keep such violence in check. In doing so, Jackson quoted from Mein Kampf , to date the only reference to the Hitler work in a Supreme Court opinion. Jackson also noted that without the help of the Chicago Police Department , Terminiello would not have even been able to give his speech and that the majority's opinion
11622-438: The court's liberal wing. Prior to Justice Ginsburg's death in 2020, the conservative Chief Justice Roberts was sometimes described as the court's 'median justice' (with four justices more liberal and four more conservative than he is). Darragh Roche argues that Kavanaugh as 2021's median justice exemplifies the rightward shift in the court. Felix Frankfurter Felix Frankfurter (November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965)
11771-577: The court's members. The Constitution assumes the existence of the office of the chief justice, because it mentions in Article I, Section 3, Clause 6 that "the Chief Justice" must preside over impeachment trials of the President of the United States . The power to define the Supreme Court's size and membership has been assumed to belong to Congress, which initially established a six-member Supreme Court composed of
11920-504: The court's most outspoken advocate of judicial restraint , the view that courts should not interpret the Constitution in such a way as to impose sharp limits upon the authority of the legislative and executive branches. He also usually refused to apply the federal Constitution to the states. In the case of Irvin v. Dowd , Frankfurter stated what was for him a frequent theme: "The federal judiciary has no power to sit in judgment upon
12069-441: The death penalty itself was not unconstitutional ( Gregg v. Georgia ). The Rehnquist Court (1986–2005) was known for its revival of judicial enforcement of federalism , emphasizing the limits of the Constitution's affirmative grants of power ( United States v. Lopez ) and the force of its restrictions on those powers ( Seminole Tribe v. Florida , City of Boerne v. Flores ). It struck down single-sex state schools as
12218-543: 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 , 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
12367-438: The detailed organization of a federal judiciary through the Judiciary Act of 1789 . The Supreme Court, the country's highest judicial tribunal, was to sit in the nation's capital and would initially be composed of a chief justice and five associate justices. The act also divided the country into judicial districts, which were in turn organized into circuits. Justices were required to "ride circuit" and hold circuit court twice
12516-574: 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
12665-575: The dissenting side of ground-breaking decisions taken by the Warren Court 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. ,
12814-453: 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 issued a lone dissent. The court's decision was followed by hundreds of violent attacks on Jehovah's Witnesses throughout
12963-794: The electoral recount during the 2000 United States presidential election , remains especially controversial with debate ongoing over the rightful winner and whether or not the ruling should set a precedent. The Roberts Court (2005–present) is regarded as more conservative and controversial than the Rehnquist Court. Some of its major rulings have concerned federal preemption ( Wyeth v. Levine ), civil procedure ( Twombly – Iqbal ), voting rights and federal preclearance ( Shelby County ), abortion ( Gonzales v. Carhart and Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ), climate change ( Massachusetts v. EPA ), same-sex marriage ( United States v. Windsor and Obergefell v. Hodges ), and
13112-454: The expression of ideas, it does not protect them absolutely, in all circumstances, regardless of the danger it may create to the public at large. To underscore his point, Jackson reiterated the testimony given at trial by Terminiello, as well as excerpts from Terminiello's speech, in which he made antisemitic remarks, inflammatory comments about various U.S. government officials, and statements praising fascist leaders, in order to demonstrate
13261-660: The faculty of Law. A 1935 newspaper article describes the Happy Hot Dogs as: Other "Frankfurter men" in the New Deal included: 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
13410-470: The first African-American justice in 1967. Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female justice in 1981. In 1986, Antonin Scalia became the first Italian-American justice. Marshall was succeeded by African-American Clarence Thomas in 1991. O'Connor was joined by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman on the Court, in 1993. After O'Connor's retirement Ginsburg was joined in 2009 by Sonia Sotomayor ,
13559-1206: The first Hispanic and Latina justice, and in 2010 by Elena Kagan. After Ginsburg's death on September 18, 2020, Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed as the fifth woman in the court's history on October 26, 2020. Ketanji Brown Jackson is the sixth woman and first African-American woman on the court. There have been six foreign-born justices in the court's history: James Wilson (1789–1798), born in Caskardy , Scotland; James Iredell (1790–1799), born in Lewes , England; William Paterson (1793–1806), born in County Antrim , Ireland; David Brewer (1889–1910), born to American missionaries in Smyrna , Ottoman Empire (now İzmir , Turkey); George Sutherland (1922–1939), born in Buckinghamshire , England; and Felix Frankfurter (1939–1962), born in Vienna , Austria-Hungary (now in Austria). Since 1789, about one-third of
13708-414: The first African American to serve as a Supreme Court law clerk . In 1960, despite a recommendation from the dean of Harvard Law School, Frankfurter turned down Ruth Bader Ginsburg 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
13857-429: The first departure from the restrictions that bind this Court in reviewing judgments of State courts. Especially odd is it to bestow such favor not for the sake of life or liberty, but to save a small amount of property — $ 100, the amount of the fine imposed upon the petitioner in a proceeding which is civil, not criminal, under the laws of Illinois, and thus subject only to limited review. Justice Jackson 's dissent
14006-560: The first justices to agree with Hugo Black 's notion that the Fourteenth Amendment incorporated the Bill of Rights 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
14155-407: The full Senate. President Lyndon B. Johnson 's nomination of sitting associate justice Abe Fortas to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice in 1968 was the first successful filibuster of a Supreme Court nominee. It included both Republican and Democratic senators concerned with Fortas's ethics. President Donald Trump 's nomination of Neil Gorsuch to the seat left vacant by Antonin Scalia 's death
14304-481: The ground that the jury instruction to which the majority of the Supreme Court objected had been affirmed by both appellate courts. He felt that the Illinois courts had construed the ordinance only as punishing fighting words and that petitioner's counsel had not previously objected to the instruction on constitutional grounds. Justice Felix Frankfurter largely echoed the sentiments of Chief Justice Vinson, feeling that
14453-529: The hope of guiding executive action. The Supreme Court's 2014 decision in National Labor Relations Board v. Noel Canning limited the ability of the president to make recess appointments (including appointments to the Supreme Court); the court ruled that the Senate decides when the Senate is in session or in recess. Writing for the court, Justice Breyer stated, "We hold that, for purposes of
14602-419: The inauguration of Franklin D. Roosevelt 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
14751-527: 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 Witnesses 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
14900-471: The justices have been U.S. military veterans. Samuel Alito is the only veteran currently serving on the court. Retired justices Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy also served in the U.S. military. Justices are nominated by the president in power, and receive confirmation by the Senate, historically holding many of the views of the nominating president's political party. While justices do not represent or receive official endorsements from political parties, as
15049-483: The majority was going out of its way to reverse Terminiello's fine, when such an action went against the balance of power between the federal and state courts : Freedom of speech undoubtedly means freedom to express views that challenge deep-seated, sacred beliefs and to utter sentiments that may provoke resentment. But those indulging in such stuff as that to which this proceeding gave rise are hardly so deserving as to lead this Court to single them out as beneficiaries of
15198-466: The mandatory Pledge of Allegiance ( Minersville School District v. Gobitis ). Nevertheless, Gobitis was soon repudiated ( West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette ), and the Steel Seizure Case restricted the pro-government trend. The Warren Court (1953–1969) dramatically expanded the force of Constitutional civil liberties . It held that segregation in public schools violates
15347-405: The more moderate Republican justices retired, the court has become more partisan. The Court became more divided sharply along partisan lines with justices appointed by Republican presidents taking increasingly conservative positions and those appointed by Democrats taking moderate liberal positions. Following the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett in 2020 after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg ,
15496-428: The most recent justice to join the court is Ketanji Brown Jackson, whose tenure began on June 30, 2022, after being confirmed by the Senate on April 7. This graphical timeline depicts the length of each current Supreme Court justice's tenure (not seniority, as the chief justice has seniority over all associate justices regardless of tenure) on the court: The court currently has five male and four female justices. Among
15645-461: The nation's boundaries grew across the continent and as Supreme Court justices in those days had to ride the circuit , an arduous process requiring long travel on horseback or carriage over harsh terrain that resulted in months-long extended stays away from home, Congress added justices to correspond with the growth such that the number of seats for associate justices plus the chief justice became seven in 1807 , nine in 1837 , and ten in 1863 . At
15794-447: The new Civil War amendments to the Constitution and developed the doctrine of substantive due process ( Lochner v. New York ; Adair v. United States ). The size of the court was last changed in 1869, when it was set at nine. Under the White and Taft Courts (1910–1930), the court held that the Fourteenth Amendment had incorporated some guarantees of the Bill of Rights against
15943-412: The new president Ulysses S. Grant , a Republican, signed into law the Judiciary Act of 1869 . This returned the number of justices to nine (where it has since remained), and allowed Grant to immediately appoint two more judges. President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempted to expand the court in 1937. His proposal envisioned the appointment of one additional justice for each incumbent justice who reached
16092-447: The nine justices, there are two African American justices (Justices Thomas and Jackson ) and one Hispanic justice (Justice Sotomayor ). One of the justices was born to at least one immigrant parent: Justice Alito 's father was born in Italy. At least six justices are Roman Catholics , one is Jewish , and one is Protestant . It is unclear whether Neil Gorsuch considers himself
16241-408: The nomination should go to the full Senate with a positive, negative or neutral report. The committee's practice of personally interviewing nominees is relatively recent. The first nominee to appear before the committee was Harlan Fiske Stone in 1925, who sought to quell concerns about his links to Wall Street , and the modern practice of questioning began with John Marshall Harlan II in 1955. Once
16390-409: 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
16539-514: The party, and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi did not bring it to the floor for a vote. Shortly after taking office in January 2021, President Joe Biden established a presidential commission to study possible reforms to the Supreme Court. The commission's December 2021 final report discussed but took no position on expanding the size of the court. At nine members, the U.S. Supreme Court
16688-418: The power of judicial review , the ability to invalidate a statute for violating a provision of the Constitution via the landmark case Marbury v Madison . It is also able to strike down presidential directives for violating either the Constitution or statutory law . Under Article Three of the United States Constitution , the composition and procedures of the Supreme Court were originally established by
16837-399: The power to remove justices and to ensure judicial independence . No constitutional mechanism exists for removing a justice who is permanently incapacitated by illness or injury, but unable (or unwilling) to resign. The only justice ever to be impeached was Samuel Chase , in 1804. The House of Representatives adopted eight articles of impeachment against him; however, he was acquitted by
16986-638: The public to view him as a radical lawyer and supporter of radical principles. Former President Theodore Roosevelt accused him of being "engaged in excusing men precisely like the Bolsheviki in Russia". 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
17135-407: The shortest period of time between vacancies in the court's history. Sometimes a great length of time passes between vacancies, such as the 11-year span, from 1994 to 2005, from the retirement of Harry Blackmun to the death of William Rehnquist , which was the second longest timespan between vacancies in the court's history. On average a new justice joins the court about every two years. Despite
17284-554: The state of New York, two are from Washington, D.C., and one each is from New Jersey, Georgia, Colorado, and Louisiana. Eight of the current justices received their Juris Doctor from an Ivy League law school : Neil Gorsuch, Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and John Roberts from Harvard ; plus Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh , Sonia Sotomayor and Clarence Thomas from Yale . Only Amy Coney Barrett did not; she received her Juris Doctor at Notre Dame . Previous positions or offices, judicial or federal government, prior to joining
17433-528: The states ( Gitlow v. New York ), grappled with the new antitrust statutes ( Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States ), upheld the constitutionality of military conscription ( Selective Draft Law Cases ), and brought the substantive due process doctrine to its first apogee ( Adkins v. Children's Hospital ). During the Hughes , Stone , and Vinson courts (1930–1953), the court gained its own accommodation in 1935 and changed its interpretation of
17582-614: The subjects the Supreme Court may hear, it may limit the jurisdiction of the lower federal courts to prevent them from hearing cases dealing with certain subjects. Nevertheless, it is primarily remembered for its ruling in Dred Scott v. Sandford , which helped precipitate the American Civil War . In the Reconstruction era , the Chase , Waite , and Fuller Courts (1864–1910) interpreted
17731-412: The supreme expositor of the Constitution ( Marbury v. Madison ) and making several important constitutional rulings that gave shape and substance to the balance of power between the federal government and states, notably Martin v. Hunter's Lessee , McCulloch v. Maryland , and Gibbons v. Ogden . The Marshall Court also ended the practice of each justice issuing his opinion seriatim ,
17880-567: 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 . Other justices who received the Frankfurter treatment of flattery and instruction were Burton, Fred M. Vinson , and John Marshall Harlan II . 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
18029-468: The times." Proposals to solve these problems include term limits for justices, as proposed by Levinson and Sabato and a mandatory retirement age proposed by Richard Epstein , among others. Alexander Hamilton in Federalist 78 argued that one benefit of lifetime tenure was that, "nothing can contribute so much to its firmness and independence as permanency in office." Article Three, Section 1 of
18178-470: The vacancy. Finding none on the list to suit his criteria, Roosevelt nominated Frankfurter. Frankfurter's nomination quickly became highly controversial, and a number of witnesses gave testimony in opposing the nomination during the confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee . In addition to the objection that he was considered to be the president's unofficial advisor, that he
18327-447: The variability, all but four presidents have been able to appoint at least one justice. William Henry Harrison died a month after taking office, although his successor ( John Tyler ) made an appointment during that presidential term. Likewise, Zachary Taylor died 16 months after taking office, but his successor ( Millard Fillmore ) also made a Supreme Court nomination before the end of that term. Andrew Johnson, who became president after
18476-410: The war, he helped found the American Civil Liberties Union and returned to his position as a professor at Harvard Law School. He became a friend and adviser of President Franklin D. Roosevelt , who appointed him to fill the Supreme Court vacancy caused by the death of Benjamin N. Cardozo . His adherence to judicial restraint during an era where conservative justices wielded the judicial power through
18625-481: The will of the people and peaceful change is effected. The right to speak freely and to promote diversity of ideas and programs is therefore one of the chief distinctions that sets us apart from totalitarian regimes. Accordingly a function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech
18774-401: 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 and Wiley Blount Rutledge ; the group would for years oppose Frankfurter's judicially restrained ideology. Douglas, Murphy, and then Rutledge were
18923-558: 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
19072-471: Was an Austrian-born American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until 1962, during which he was an advocate of judicial restraint . Frankfurter was born in Vienna , immigrating to New York City 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 , Frankfurter served as Judge Advocate General . After
19221-547: Was appointed Judge Advocate General , supervising military courts-martial 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
19370-579: Was born into an Ashkenazi Jewish family on November 15, 1882, in Vienna (then part of Austria-Hungary ). He was the third of six children of Leopold Frankfurter, a merchant, and Emma (Winter) Frankfurter. His father died in 1916. His mother died in January 1928 after a prolonged illness. His uncle, Solomon Frankfurter, was head librarian at the Vienna University Library . Frankfurter's forebears had been rabbis for generations. In 1894, twelve-year-old Frankfurter and his family immigrated to
19519-461: Was considerably longer and more elaborate than Vinson's or Frankfurter's. Jackson felt the majority was ignoring the very real concern of maintaining public order, and that the majority's generalized suspicion of any restriction of free speech was blinding them to the fact that a riot had occurred at Terminiello's place of speaking. His basic argument was that although the First Amendment protects
19668-453: Was defeated 70–20 in the Senate, and the Senate Judiciary Committee reported that it was "essential to the continuance of our constitutional democracy" that the proposal "be so emphatically rejected that its parallel will never again be presented to the free representatives of the free people of America." The expansion of a 5–4 conservative majority to a 6–3 supermajority during the first presidency of Donald Trump led to analysts calling
19817-701: Was elected. He became increasingly disillusioned with the established parties, and described himself as "politically homeless". Frankfurter's work in Washington had impressed the faculty at Harvard Law School, who used a donation from the financier Jacob Schiff to create a position for him there after Louis Brandeis suggested that Schiff do this. He taught mainly administrative law and occasionally criminal law . With fellow professor 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
19966-736: Was encouraged by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis to become more involved in Zionism . 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 , creating a national democratic organization of Jewish leaders from all over
20115-612: 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 , 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 , two Italian immigrant anarchists who had been sentenced to death on robbery and murder charges. Frankfurter wrote an influential article for The Atlantic Monthly and subsequently
20264-624: Was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa , 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 and Horace Kallen , became an editor of the Harvard Law Review , and graduated first in his class with one of the best academic records since Louis Brandeis . Frankfurter's legal career began when he joined
20413-482: 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
20562-468: Was later assessed a fine of $ 100 for violation of Chicago's breach of peace ordinance, which he appealed. Both the Illinois Appellate Court and Illinois Supreme Court affirmed the conviction. The US Supreme Court granted certiorari . Justice William O. Douglas , writing for the majority, reversed Terminiello's conviction, holding that his speech was protected by the First Amendment (which
20711-522: Was made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment), and that the ordinance, as construed by the Illinois courts, was unconstitutional. Douglas said that the purpose of free speech was to invite dispute even where it incites people to anger; in fact, the provocative and inflammatory content of speech could potentially be seen as positive. Although Douglas acknowledged that freedom of speech
20860-493: 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 . Long an anglophile , Frankfurter had studied at Oxford University in 1920. In 1933–34 he returned to act as visiting Eastman professor in
21009-411: Was not acted on by the Senate; Eisenhower re-nominated Harlan in January 1955, and Harlan was confirmed two months later. Most recently, the Senate failed to act on the March 2016 nomination of Merrick Garland, as the nomination expired in January 2017, and the vacancy was filled by Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of President Trump. Once the Senate confirms a nomination, the president must prepare and sign
21158-455: Was not in line with the " clear and present danger " test set forth in Schenck v. United States . Jackson's dissent in this case is most famous for its final paragraph: This Court has gone far toward accepting the doctrine that civil liberty means the removal of all restraints from these crowds and that all local attempts to maintain order are impairments of the liberty of the citizen. The choice
21307-481: Was not limitless and did not apply to " fighting words " (citing Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire ), he held that such limitations were inapplicable in this case: The vitality of civil and political institutions in our society depends on free discussion. As Chief Justice Hughes wrote in De Jonge v. Oregon , 299 U.S. 353, 365, 260, it is only through free debate and free exchange of ideas that government remains responsive to
21456-415: 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
21605-419: 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 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
21754-528: 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
21903-427: 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 such as justices Hugo Black and William O. Douglas . He often complained that they "started with a result" and that their work was "shoddy," "result-oriented," and "demagogic". Similarly, Frankfurter panned
22052-627: Was the second. Unlike the Fortas filibuster, only Democratic senators voted against cloture on the Gorsuch nomination, citing his perceived conservative judicial philosophy, and the Republican majority's prior refusal to take up President Barack Obama 's nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the vacancy. This led the Republican majority to change the rules and eliminate the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations. Not every Supreme Court nominee has received
22201-475: Was while debating the separation of powers between the legislative and executive departments that delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention established the parameters for the national judiciary . Creating a "third branch" of government was a novel idea ; in the English tradition, judicial matters had been treated as an aspect of royal (executive) authority. Early on, the delegates who were opposed to having
#683316