Replies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everson_v._Board_of_Education

Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947)[1][2] was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court which applied the Establishment Clause in the country’s Bill of Rights to State law. Prior to this decision the First Amendment words, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”[3] imposed limits only on the federal government, while many states continued to grant certain religious denominations legislative or effective privileges.[4] This was the first Supreme Court case incorporating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as binding upon the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The decision in Everson marked a turning point in the interpretation and application of disestablishment law in the modern era.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black

Hugo Black was also a one-time member of the Ku Klux Klan as revealed by journalist Ray Sprigle of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, who uncovered Black’s handwritten resignation from the Klan on July 9, 1925,[8] When confronted with the evidence that Hugo Black had been a member of the Klan, he responded in part: “Before becoming a Senator I dropped the Klan. I have had nothing to do with it since that time. I abandoned it. I completely discontinued any association with the organization.”[9]

A reformer in the Senate[10] and a devoted New Dealer,[11] Black endorsed Roosevelt in both the 1932 and 1936 presidential elections.

...Black wrote the majority opinion in Korematsu v. United States, which upheld Japanese internment during World War II.

Ku Klux Klan and anti-Catholicism[edit]
Shortly after Black’s appointment to the Supreme Court, Ray Sprigle of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote a series of articles revealing Black’s involvement in the Klan, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize.[103] The first article in the series was published on Sept 13, 1937, barely a month after Black’s appointment and shortly after his confirmation. Titled “Justice Black Revealed as Ku Klux Klansman,”[104] the article described how Black’s resignation from the Klan “was the first move of his campaign for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator from Alabama.”

At a press conference on Sept 14 1937, Roosevelt was asked about whether he had knowledge of Black’s involvement with the Ku Klux Klan. He responded in part, “I know only what I have read in the newspapers…Mr. Justice Black is abroad. Until such time as he returns there is no further comment to be made.”[105] On Sept 21 1937, FDR was again asked during a press conference about whether or not he had communications with Hugo Black regarding his involvement in the Ku Klux Klan. Again, FDR denied speaking with Hugo Black, and when asked about whether the Department of Justice should be “charged automatically” with investigating Supreme Court appointments, FDR said in part, “No, certainly not...a man’s private life is supposed to be his private life...”

On Sept 21, 1937, Hugo Black was “besieged” by reporters. He said, “If I make any statement it will be in a way the people can hear me and understand what I have to say, and not have to depend on some parts of the press which might fail to report all I have to say.”[106]

On October 1, 1937, Hugo Black made a statement over the radio.[107] Black said in part, “I number among my friends many members of the colored race. Certainly, they are entitled to the full measure of protection accorded by our Constitution and our laws...”[108] Black also said, “I did join the Klan. I later resigned. I never rejoined.... Before becoming a Senator I dropped the Klan. I have had nothing to do with it since that time. I abandoned it. I completely discontinued any association with the organization. I have never resumed it and never expect to do so.”[109] The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that “fifty million listeners heard the unprecedented speech.”

Near the end of his life, Black would claim that joining the Klan was a mistake, and went on to say “I would have joined any group if it helped get me votes.”[32]

Biographers in the 1990s examined Black’s views of religious denominations. Ball found regarding the Klan that Black “sympathized with the group’s economic, nativist, and anti-Catholic beliefs.”[110] Newman said Black “disliked the Catholic Church as an institution” and gave numerous anti-Catholic speeches in his 1926 election campaign to Ku Klux Klan meetings across Alabama.[111] However, in 1937 The Harvard Crimson reported on Black’s appointment of a Jewish law clerk, noting that he “earlier had appointed Miss Annie Butt, a Catholic, as a secretary, and the Supreme Court had designated Leon Smallwood, a Negro and a Catholic as his messenger.”[112]