ASSOCIATE JUSTICE FELIX FRANKFURTER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 10/10/1961 - HFSID 56957

FELIX FRANKFURTER
Frankfurter signed this typed letter on his personalized letterhead from the Supreme Court to Seymor Lawrence, Esq. in 1961. In it, Frankfurter says that he shouldn't "intervene" in an upcoming biography of Judge Learned Hand, but that a piece that he had written for the Harvard Law Review would give "some indication of what such a biography re-quires". Frankfurter retired as a Supreme Court Justice in 1962, the year after this note was written.
Typed letter signed:"F. F.", 1 page, 5½x9, on letterhead from the Chambers of Justice Felix Frankfurter of the Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C., 1961 October 10. Addressed to Seymour Lawrence, Esq. In full: "Dear Sam: the enclosed copy of a letter to Mary Darrell, to which thus far I have had no response, will give you the ground for my feeling that I ought not to intervene further by way of suggestions for an appro-priate biography of Judge Learned Hand. I might add, however, that in a little piece that I have written on the Judge, which is to appear in the November number of the Harvard Law Review. I have given some indication of what such a biography re-quires. With warm regards to both of you, Very 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, creased and rippled. Staple holes in upper left corner. Folded twice and unfolded. Otherwise, fine condition.