^ Felix Frankfurter, Arthur
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THE SUPREME COURT HISTORICAL SOCIETY VOLUME xm NUMBER 4,1992 Society Plans Lecture Series onthe Court's FiveJewishJustices Five-PartSeriesCo-sponsoredbyJewish HistoricalSocietyofGreaterWashin^on The Society is pleased to over half a century remained both a protagonist of modem announce that plans are American liberalism and an embodiment of its ideal." being finalized for a lecture The program will consist of five separate lectures, each series concerning the five concerning an individual Justice. The lectureswill be given by Jewish Justices who have outstandingscholarswho have devoted much oftheircareers to served on the Supreme Court. study of these individuals. Lectures will be given in the The Society will co-sponsor SupremeCourt Chamber,the RestoredSupremeCourtChamber these five eventswiththeJewish in the Capitol Building and the Senate Caucus Room in the Historical Society of Greater 5 Russell Building. All three rooms have historical significance to Washington. Sheldon S.Cohen, g the Court. The Court sat in what is now the Restored Supreme ofthe firm ofMorgan, Lewis & t Court Chamberofthe Capitolprior to the Civil War. The &nate Bockius is serving as ad hoc | CaucusRoomhasbeen thesiteformostoftherecentconfirmation chairman of the organizing 5 hearings forSupreme Court nominees. The SupremeCourt has committee for the series and is S been meeting in its current Chamber since 1935. O assistingwithplanningandfund- | The tentative schedule for the lectures is as follows: raising. ° The Court's last Jewish Justice, Abe Examining the lives and Fortas, will he examined ina talk by March 4, 1993 careers of some of the most Professor Bruce Murphy, of Penn Lecture on Louis Brandeis by Prof. Melvin Urofslg'. Pro fascinating and memorable State University. fessor Urofsky is a professor ofHistoiy at Virginia Common individuals to have served on the Supreme Court, the serieswill wealth University. His published works include Big Steeland focus upon thecareersofLouis the Wilson Administration (1969), the \>nze-\nnningAmerican ^ FelixBrandeis,Frankfurter,Benjamin Cardozo,Arthur --con tin uedon pagesix Goldbergand Abe Fortas.The subject matter of the series includes complex and rich 3niHemoriam personalities such as Louis D. Brandeiswho "inventedsavings It iswith great sadness that we report the death of long bank life insurance and the time QuarterlyEdiiorand SocietyFirstVicePresident,Alice preferential union shop, Louise O'Donnell. becameknown as the 'People's Miss O'Donnell's association with the Supreme Court, Attorney,' and altered American the Society,and the federaljudicial systemas a wholewasa jurisprudence as a lawyer and long-standing one. Sheservedon AssociateJusticeTom C. Supreme Court Justice." Clark's staff from 1949-1967, and before that on his staff Another lecture will deal with whenhe was AttorneyGeneral from 1945-1949. Felix Frankfurter, referred to During hertenurewith Justice Clark shecompleted her as "brilliant,mde, warmhearted, law degree atGeorge Washington UniversityinWashington, 'ThcCourt'sfirstjcwishjustice,Louis self-important, charming, D.C. and she was admitted to the Supreme Court Bar in D. Brandeis, will be the subject of a , t„ii,1 » ,lecture , ^byProfessor \Melvin - ITUrofekyr 1., brusque,." V-' talkative,i- i-. but never -continnedonpagefour of the University of Richmond. borillg. PcllX FfBllkfurtcr fOF A Letter From the President sively to that aspect of the Court's duties. Circuit riding was great people; and to bestow upon themunexampled prosper- attacks on the latter fromthe circuitbench, and hispassionate provided for by the JudiciaryAct of1789,which established three ity"(119). Jeremiads are included in thisvolume. Butwhatcomes through circuits (composed respectively of New England, the middle What is even more interesting is the aristocratic gjoss the here ishow much the otherjustices sharedhisviews-how all of most critical funding states, and the southern states) and required the Justices to hold Justicesputontheirrepresentative duties-agloss thatplaces them them operated on the conservative premises of the English need during the two sessions of the circuit courteach year. Until 1793,twoJustices 'quarely within the deferential political culture of the late eigh common law tradition. dlP^'^-years is, were required to sit with the federal district judge in each district teenthcentury. WhenJusticePatersoncomments on thehospital Take forexample Ellsworth's charges to the grand juryfor without doubt, the (state) oftheir assignedcircuit;after that date onlyonejusticewas ityand generosityofthe"gentlemen ofCharleston," (142) orwhen the district ofNewYork, April 1,1797, inwhich helashes out required. Circuit assignments varied throughout the decade, Iredell describes to his wife the "small but genteel society" the in pulpit rhetoric against the "hateful influence of those •• ^ Project of the which meant that justices from northern states often had to ride "pleasing civilities" ofPortsmouth, New Hampshire (45), ofbeing elements of disorganization, &tenetsof impiety," the"spirit ^A 7 Supreme Court of the middleor the southemcircuitsandjusticeswhosehomeswere entertained bythe governorof Maryland (178), weare reminded of party which poisons the source of public confidence, and A In^^l fhe United States, in the South sometimes worked the middle or New England ofthe factthat thejusticesbelongedto the political and social elite palsies the hand of the administration;" and that which un 1789-1800. It circuits. oftheir respective states.That noblesse oblige wasalive andwell leashes foreign influence, the "destroying angel of republics" probable, in light of Thedocuments in this volume, most ofwhich are now available among theJustices issuggestedby theirAnglicized wigs androbes. ( 159). Justice Gushing got soheated upinRichmond, Novem '^j the for the first time, include the personal correspondence of the Even moreto the pointwas the didactic, oftenpatronizing, tone ber 23, 1798, that he called on "AN ANGEL OF DELIVER- stantialmembership justices dealing with circuit duties and their charges to circuit of their jurycharges. The justices on circuit were in fact more ANGE;" in the person of George Washington, to rescue the grandjuries arrangedby circuit and year.Jury responses to the directly in touch with the people than either of the political republic. In fact, the justice cast himself in the same heaven years that many charges are reprinted when available asareothercontemporary branches of the national government, and like the itinerant appointed role. Armed with true law he would rescue "liberty ^^Hj^^^HL—^^HL—J^^HallH our members are reactions to the charges and to the circuitjudges themselves.The evangelicals of an earlier agethey rarelymisseda chanceto teach and property,""virtueand piety,"extirpate"allcombinations Leon siivennan unfamiliarwith the editors provide brief, but useful introductory essays preceding and preach. Thus we hear Justice Paterson in hischarge of April of foreign influenceand intrigue, of internal anarchy discord, Project. Since it is eachyearofthecircuit, whichkeepthereaderabreast ofpersonnel 2,1795, to the grand jury for the district of New Jersey declare: misrepresentation, calumny and falsehood, operating from the Society's single largest research endeavor, I think it appro changes ontheCourt,statutorychanges affectingthe circuits, and POLITIGAL, ambitious and selfish purposes;" and subdue priate to better familiarize those members who are not well the shifting political scene. Appendices include several undated The best and most effectual method of "allimpious attemptto root out of men'sminds every trace of informed of its history and objectives with some detail about circuit charges ofJustice Paterson, congressional legislation down preventing the commission of crimes is to Christian andnatural religion:" On hishit listwere"democratic this worthwhile program. to 1800 dealing with the circuits, and a circuit calendar that render the system of education as general societies," thelicentious press, andthose (debtors who argued The Project has been under the direction of Dr. Maeva includes attendanceinformation aswell asthe places anddatesof and perfectas possible The mind, without against paying British debts) who declared anunprovoked war Marcus since its inception in 1977. It is co-sponsored by the court sessions as assigned by statute. A bibliography of works literature or science, is in a rude and dark upon property" and whose evil ways have caused untold Supreme Court andtheSociety, andour costs are underwritten consulted and an extensive indexadd to the accessibility of the state, and incapable of high or useful exer suffering to"widows andorphans" across the land. Opponents by substantial annual grants from the National Historic Publi materials. tions ... (11). To act well our parts in society, oftheJayTreatywerealsodesignated public enemies (305-6). cations and Record Commission (NHPRC) and the William Several importantthemesemergefrom thesedocuments, the ^ wemustknow thetrueinterest ofthecommu- Gushing wenton in thisveinsolongthat he promptedonewag Nelson Cromwell Foundation, as well as some otheroccasional first of which is that circuit riding was demanding and frustrating flp P nity in which we live; to perform in a proper to question how it was that "an annual speech of60 lines from contributions. work-somuch sothatitdrove sittingjustices intoearly retirement manner the various duties incumbent upon a British kinghas given birth to an annual speech of from3 to The