Looking at Justices

Just for fun, I am introducing this thread for Freepers who have much interest in the Supreme Court. I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some of the influential justices of the mid-to-late twentieth century, so I have provided a list below naming some of the most prominent justices of that period. I’d love to get reactions from fellow Freepers regarding some of these justices and get an idea of some favorites and least favorites. Obviously, I know very well what harsh words nearly all members will have for the left-wing justices! LOL

In an effort to stay focused on the mid-to-late twentieth century, I have purposely excluded any justices who were still sitting on the Court at the beginning of the twenty-first century from the list. Please feel free to share any comments, positive or negative, about any of the justices on this list. Thanks!

- JUSTICE (and later Chief Justice) HARLAN FISKE STONE - JUSTICE BENJAMIN CARDOZO - JUSTICE HUGO BLACK - JUSTICE STANLEY REED - JUSTICE FELIX FRANKFURTER - JUSTICE ROBERT JACKSON - JUSTICE WILLIAM O. DOUGLAS - JUSTICE TOM CLARK - CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN - JUSTICE JOHN HARLAN - JUSTICE WILLIAM BRENNAN - JUSTICE POTTER STEWART - JUSTICE BYRON WHITE - JUSTICE THURGOOD MARHSALL - CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN BURGER - JUSTICE HARRY BLACKMUN - JUSTICE LEWIS POWELL

True.

F.ex.

MALLOY v. HOGAN, 378 U.S. 1, 14-33

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, whom MR. JUSTICE CLARK joins, dissenting.

I can only read the Court's opinion as accepting in fact what it rejects in theory: the application to the States, via the Fourteenth Amendment, of the forms of federal criminal procedure embodied within the first eight Amendments to the Constitution. While it is true that the Court deals today with only one aspect of state criminal procedure, and rejects the wholesale "incorporation" of such federal constitutional requirements, the logical gap between the Court's premises and its novel constitutional conclusion can, I submit, be bridged only by the additional premise that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment is a shorthand directive to this Court to pick and choose among the provisions of the first eight Amendments and apply those chosen, freighted with their entire accompanying body of federal doctrine, to law enforcement in the States.

I accept and agree with the proposition that continuing re-examination of the constitutional conception of Fourteenth Amendment "due process" of law is required, and that development of the community's sense of justice may in time lead to expansion of the protection which due process affords. In particular in this case, I agree that principles of justice to which due process gives expression, as reflected in decisions of this Court, prohibit a State, as the Fifth Amendment prohibits the Federal Government, from imprisoning a person solely because he refuses to give evidence which may incriminate him under the laws of the State. I do not understand, however, how this process of re-examination, which must refer always to the guiding standard of due process of law, including, of course, reference to the particular guarantees of the Bill of Rights, can be short-circuited by the simple device of incorporating into due process, without critical examination, the whole body of law which surrounds a specific prohibition directed against the Federal Government. The consequence of such an approach to due process as it pertains to the States is inevitably disregard of all relevant differences which may exist between state and federal criminal law and its enforcement. The ultimate result is compelled uniformity, which is inconsistent with the purpose of our federal system and which is achieved either by encroachment on the States' sovereign powers or by dilution in federal law enforcement of the specific protections found in the Bill of Rights.

REYNOLDS V. SIMS

377 U.S. 533, 590-625

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, dissenting

In these cases the Court holds that seats in the legislatures of six States are apportioned in ways that violate the Federal Constitution. Under the Court's ruling it is bound to follow that the legislatures in all but a few of the other 44 States will meet the same fate. These decisions, with Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 , involving congressional districting by the States, and Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368 , relating to elections for statewide office, have the effect of placing basic aspects of state political systems under the pervasive overlordship of the federal judiciary. Once again, I must register my protest. (...)

The Court's elaboration of its new "constitutional" doctrine indicates how far - and how unwisely - it has strayed from the appropriate bounds of its authority. The consequence of today's decision is that in all but the handful of States which may already satisfy the new requirements the local District Court or, it may be, the state courts, are given blanket authority and the constitutional duty to supervise apportionment of the State Legislatures. It is difficult to imagine a more intolerable and inappropriate interference by the judiciary with the independent legislatures of the States.(...)

Finally, these decisions give support to a current mistaken view of the Constitution and the constitutional function of this Court. This view, in a nutshell, is that every major social ill in this country can find its cure in some constitutional "principle," and that this Court should "take the lead" in promoting reform when other branches of government fail to act. The Constitution is not a panacea for every blot upon the public welfare, nor should this Court, ordained as a judicial body, be thought of as a general haven for reform movements. The Constitution is an instrument of government, fundamental to which is the premise that in a diffusion of governmental authority lies the greatest promise that this Nation will realize liberty for all its citizens. This Court, limited in function in accordance with that premise, does not serve its high purpose when it exceeds its authority, even to satisfy justified impatience with the slow workings of the political process. For when, in the name of constitutional interpretation, the Court adds something to the Constitution that was deliberately excluded from it, the Court in reality substitutes its view of what should be so for the amending process.

POINTER V. TEXAS

380 U.S. 400, 408-409

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN, concurring in the result.

The Court holds that the right of confrontation guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment in federal criminal trials is carried into state criminal cases by the Fourteenth Amendment. This is another step in the onward march of the long-since discredited "incorporation" doctrine (...)

The concept of Fourteenth Amendment due process embodied in Palko and a host of other thoughtful past decisions now rapidly falling into discard, recognizes that our Constitution tolerates, indeed encourages, differences between the methods used to effectuate legitimate federal and state concerns, subject to the requirements of fundamental fairness "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty." The philosophy of "incorporation," on the other hand, subordinates all such state differences to the particular requirements of the Federal Bill of Rights (but see Ker v. California, supra, at 34) and increasingly subjects state legal processes to enveloping federal judicial authority. (...)

The "incorporation" doctrines, whether full blown or selective, are both historically and constitutionally unsound and incompatible with the maintenance of our federal system on even course.

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