61 Facts About Felix Frankfurter

Felix Frankfurter 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 period he was a noted advocate of judicial restraint in its judgements.

Felix Frankfurter 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.

Felix Frankfurter served on the Court until his retirement in 1962, and was succeeded by Arthur Goldberg.

Felix Frankfurter 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.

Felix Frankfurter was born into an Ashkenazi Jewish family on November 15,1882, in Vienna.

Felix Frankfurter was the third of six children of Leopold Frankfurter, a merchant, and Emma Frankfurter.

Felix Frankfurter 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.

Felix Frankfurter applied successfully to Harvard Law School, where he excelled academically and socially.

Felix Frankfurter 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.

Felix Frankfurter worked directly for Stimson as his assistant and confidant.

In 1912 Felix Frankfurter supported the Bull Moose campaign to return Roosevelt to the presidency, and was bitterly disappointed when Woodrow Wilson was elected.

Felix Frankfurter became increasingly disillusioned with the established parties, and described himself as "politically homeless".

Felix Frankfurter taught mainly administrative law and occasionally criminal law.

Felix Frankfurter served as counsel for the National Consumers League, arguing for Progressive causes such as minimum wage and restricted work hours.

Felix Frankfurter was involved in the early years of The New Republic magazine after its founding by Herbert Croly.

Felix Frankfurter was appointed Judge Advocate General, supervising military courts-martial for the War Department.

Felix Frankfurter was commissioned a major in the Officers Reserve Corps but was not called to active duty.

Felix Frankfurter 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.

Felix Frankfurter was encouraged by Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis to become more involved in Zionism.

In 1919, Felix Frankfurter served as a Zionist delegate to the Paris Peace Conference.

In 1919, Felix Frankfurter married Marion Denman, a Smith College graduate and the daughter of a Congregational minister.

Felix Frankfurter was a non-practicing Jew, and regarded religion as "an accident of birth".

Felix Frankfurter was a domineering husband and Denman suffered from frail health.

Felix Frankfurter's activities continued to attract attention for their alleged radicalism.

In 1920, Felix Frankfurter helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union.

In 1921, Felix Frankfurter was given a chair at Harvard Law School, where he continued progressive work on behalf of socialists and oppressed and religious minorities.

Felix Frankfurter wrote an influential article for The Atlantic Monthly and subsequently a book, The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti: A Critical Analysis for Lawyers and Laymen.

Felix Frankfurter was considered to be liberal and advocated progressive legislation.

Felix Frankfurter 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.

Felix Frankfurter moved to Washington, DC, commuting back to Harvard for classes, but felt that he was never fully accepted within government circles.

Felix Frankfurter worked closely with Louis Brandeis, lobbying for political activities suggested by Brandeis.

Felix Frankfurter 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, Felix Frankfurter had studied at Oxford University in 1920.

In July 1943, on behalf of the President, Felix 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 known as the Holocaust.

Felix Frankfurter agreed, but only to address what he considered to be slanderous allegations against him.

Felix Frankfurter was only the second Supreme Court nominee ever to testify during hearings on their nomination, and the first to be requested to do so.

Felix Frankfurter served from January 30,1939, to August 28,1962.

Felix Frankfurter wrote 247 opinions for the Court, 132 concurring opinions, and 251 dissents.

Felix Frankfurter became 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.

Felix Frankfurter usually refused to apply the federal Constitution to the states.

Felix Frankfurter revered Justice Holmes, often citing Holmes in his opinions.

In practice, this meant Felix Frankfurter was generally willing to uphold the actions of those branches against constitutional challenges so long as they did not "shock the conscience".

Felix Frankfurter was particularly well known as a scholar of civil procedure.

Felix Frankfurter rejected claims that First Amendment rights should be protected by law, and urged deference to the decisions of the elected school board officials.

Felix Frankfurter 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.

Felix Frankfurter 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".

Felix 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".

Felix Frankfurter demanded that the opinion in Brown II order schools to desegregate with "all deliberate speed".

Felix 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.

In 1960, despite a recommendation from the dean of Harvard Law School, Felix Frankfurter turned down Ruth Bader Ginsburg for a clerkship position because of her gender.

Felix Frankfurter later became an associate justice of the Supreme Court herself, and was the first Jewish woman to do so.

Felix Frankfurter generally attempted to influence any new justice coming in, though he managed to repel William J Brennan, Jr.

Some, possibly apocryphal, reports have Felix Frankfurter remarking that Vinson's death in 1953 was the first solid piece of evidence he had seen to prove the existence of God.

Felix 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.

Similarly, Felix Frankfurter panned the work of Chief Justice Earl Warren as "dishonest nonsense".

Felix 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.

Felix Frankfurter retired in 1962 after suffering a stroke and was succeeded by Arthur Goldberg.

Felix Frankfurter was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by John F Kennedy in 1963.

Felix Frankfurter died from congestive heart failure in 1965 at the age of 82.

Felix Frankfurter's remains are interred in the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Felix Frankfurter was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1932 and the American Philosophical Society in 1939.