Frankfurter, Felix, 1882–1965, American jurist, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1939–62), b. Vienna, Austria. He emigrated to the United States as a boy and later received (1906) his law degree from Harvard law school. He was assistant U.S. attorney (1906–10) in New York state and legal officer (1911–14) in the Bureau of Insular Affairs. A professor (1914–39) at Harvard law school, Frankfurter was also active during these years outside the academic world. A frequent appointee to special government posts, he fought for the release of Sacco and Vanzetti, helped found the American Civil Liberties Union, and played an important part in staffing the agencies of the New Deal. His appointment by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to the U.S. Supreme Court brought a man of marked liberal tendencies to the high bench; but Frankfurter was also a firm adherent of judicial restraint. Although much concerned with fair legal procedure, he upheld legislation limiting civil liberties in the belief that the government has a right to protect itself through investigative committees and legislation, and that the court must exercise self-restraint in interfering with the popular will as expressed by its representatives. Among his works are The Public and Its Government (1930), The Commerce Clause under Marshall, Taney, and Waite (1937), and Of Law and Men (1956). His lectures appear in Law and Politics, ed. by Archibald MacLeish and E. F. Pritchard (1939, repr. 1962).

Bibliography

See also his reminiscences, ed. by H. B. Phillips (1960, repr. 1962); his correspondence with F. D. Roosevelt, ed. by M. Freedman (1967), and with O. W. Holmes, ed. by R. M. Mennel and C. L. Compston (1996); biography by L. Baker (1969); studies by H. S. Thomas (1960) and P. B. Kurland (1971); W. Mendelson, ed., Felix Frankfurter (2 vol., 1964) and Justices Black and Frankfurter (2d ed. 1966).

Frankfurter, Felix

Felix Frankfurter.

(credit: Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.)

(born Nov. 15, 1882, Vienna, Austria-Hungary—died Feb. 22, 1965, Washington, D.C., U.S.) Austrian-born U.S. jurist and public official. Immigrating to the U.S. at the age of 12, he was educated at the City College of New York and Harvard Law School, where he later taught (1914–39). He served as secretary of war (1911–13) under Pres. William H. Taft. He advised Woodrow Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference (1919) and counseled Franklin Roosevelt on New Deal legislation (1933–39). He promoted Zionism in the U.S. and helped found the American Civil Liberties Union; his friend Louis Brandeis secretly encouraged his attacks on the Sacco-Vanzetti conviction. In 1939 he was appointed by Roosevelt to the Supreme Court of the United States, on which he served until 1962. He became a leading exponent of judicial restraint, holding that judges should adhere closely to precedent and largely disregard their personal views; his opinions evince a concern with the integrity of government, sometimes at the expense of individual liberties.

Frankfurter, Felix (1882–1965) Supreme Court justice, presidential adviser; born in Vienna, Austria. He emigrated to the U.S.A. at age twelve and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1906. He briefly practiced law and served as an assistant district attorney in New York before joining the faculty at Harvard Law School (1914–39). While at Harvard, he served as a legal adviser to President Wilson at the Paris Peace Conference (1919). An early contributor to The New Republic, he helped found the American Civil Liberties Union (1920) and argued in favor of Sacco and Vanzetti's right to a new trial. He advised President Franklin D. Roosevelt on many New Deal programs and, in 1939, Roosevelt named him to the U.S. Supreme Court (1939–62). His tenure on the court tamed his liberalism. His opinions reflected his belief in judicial restraint: that the law should emanate from the people and the legislative process rather than the court. In 1963 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.