ASSOCIATE JUSTICE FELIX FRANKFURTER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/06/1951 - HFSID 41414

FELIX FRANKFURTER
Frankfurter signed this typed letter on his personalized letterhead from the Supreme Court to Dr. H. L. Gordon in 1951. In it, Frankfurter praises Gordon for the good reviews of his book The Maggid of Caro, but adds that he can't say how good it is: "I have not the intrinsic competence to make a responsible judgment about a book like yours, and of course not the time to equip myself for such a judgment."
Typed letter signed:"Felix Frankfurter", 1p, 5¾x9, on letterhead from the Chambers of Justice Felix Frankfurter of the Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C., 1951 April 6.Addressed to the H. L. Gordon, M. D. In full: "It pleases me, of course, that you should have had favorable reviews of your 'The Maggid of Caro.' Unfortunately, the demands of this job are such that at most, I can only save myself from becoming illiterate by reading a book occasionally, and looking into serious books that others, like yourself, are good enough to send me. I have not the intrinsic competence to make a responsible judgment about a book like yours, and of course not the time to equip myself for such a judgment. With good wishes, Sincerely yours," 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, stained and creased. Staple holes in upper left corner. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise, fine condition.