FELIX FRANKFURTER
1962 postmarked envelope signed by Frankfurter, with a small b/w magazine photo of him taped on near the left edge
Envelope signed: "Felix Frankfurter", 6½x3½, with 2¼x3¼ b/w magazine photo of Frankfurter affixed near left edge with tape. Postmarked Washington, DC, November 15, 1962. With one 3¢ purple-and-white Washington DC Sesquicentennial stamp affixed. A renowned legal scholar, Frankfurter (1882-1965, born in Vienna, Austria) influenced Supreme Court decisions for more than 20 years (1939-1962). A former advisor to the NAACP and co-founder of the American Civil Liberties Union, Frankfurter had affirmed that any form of discrimination against Blacks violated the 15th Amendment (Lane vs. Wilson, 1939). Believing that the Court should not interfere with laws established by the people's elected officials, he upheld President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. In the realm of civil liberties, Frankfurter would play a pivotal role in deciding the famous school desegregation case Brown vs. the Board of Education (1954), ensuring its historic importance by securing a unanimous decision. He dissented when the Court overturned Minersville West Virginia State Board of Education vs. Barnette (1943) and when it ruled in favor of legislative reapportionment (Baker vs. Carr, 1962), which he felt was strictly a political problem to be solved by the legislature, not the judiciary. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the staunch advocate of judicial self-restraint stabilized the liberal Earl Warren Court and promoted "procedural fairness" in criminal cases. Frankfurter was presented the Medal of Freedom by John F. Kennedy in 1963. Lightly toned, soiled and creased. Signature is shaky but legible. Light paper loss on photo on left edge. Otherwise, fine condition.