ASSOCIATE JUSTICE FELIX FRANKFURTER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 04/08/1939 - HFSID 290798

FELIX FRANKFURTER
As Supreme Court Justice, he thanks someone who "Made a very deep drain on my feelings".
Typed Letter signed: "Felix Frankfurter" as Supreme Court Justice, 1 page, 5¾x9. Washington, D.C., 1939 April 8. On Supreme Court letterhead to David Shenker, Esq.. In full: "You have put me greatly in debt - even though you thereby made a very deep drain on my feelings, and there is just so much emotional energy that one has. But I think the Klines did a superbly artistic thing and one that worthily  executed their fine courage. Very sincerely yours". A renowned legal scholar, Felix 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. While details of the incidents in this letter are unavailable, David Schenker was Chief Counsel for the Securities and Exchange Commission, an advocate of stricter regulation of investment trusts. His Congressional testimony helped shape the Investment Company Act of 1940. In 1942, Time magazine reported cryptically that Schenker was returning to private practice, denied a Commissioner's seat, because he "got on the wrong side of a couple of political fights." Multiple mailing folds. Corners lightly worn. Lightly toned. Otherwise, fine condition.