ASSOCIATE JUSTICE TOM C. CLARK - FIRST DAY COVER SIGNED CO-SIGNED BY: ASSOCIATE JUSTICE ABE FORTAS, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE HARRY A. BLACKMUN, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE ARTHUR J. GOLDBERG - HFSID 48071

SUPREME COURT: HARRY A. BLACKMUN, TOM C. CLARK, ABE FORTAS and ARTHUR GOLDBERG
Four of the Supreme Court Justices sign a first day cover honoring the 100th Anniversary of the birth of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes.
First Day Cover signed: "Tom C. Clark", "Arthur J. Goldberg", "Harry A. Blackmun" and "Abe Fortas", 6½x3¾. FDC honoring the 100th Anniversary of the birth of U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes, 4-cent Hughes stamp affixed, postmarked Washington, D.C., April 11, 1962, FIRST DAY OF ISSUE. HARRY BLACKMUN (1908-1999), a Republican appointed by President Richard Nixon in 1970, served until retiring in 1994. Initially allied with the conservatives on the Court, he is best remembered for his 1973 majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion. In March, 2004, Blackmun's papers collected at the Library of Congress were opened for public view. The papers and video tapes provide a candid look behind the scenes at the Court's deliberations. Special Assistant in the Justice Department (1937-1943) and Assistant Attorney General (1943-1945) under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, TOM C. CLARK (1899-1977) was appointed Attorney General in 1945 and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1949 by President Harry S Truman.When his son, Ramsey, was appointed Attorney General by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967, Clark resigned as Associate Justice to avoid any possible conflict of interest. After two decades of private law practice, ABE FORTAS (1910-1982) was appointed to the Supreme Court by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965. Fortas, who had successfully represented LBJ when Johnson's 84-vote victory in the 1948 Democratic Senate primary in Texas was challenged, remained a confidante of President Johnson. In 1968, LBJ nominated Fortas to succeed Earl Warren as Chief Justice, but then withdrew the nomination. In 1969, "Life" magazine revealed that Fortas had accepted and then returned a fee of $20,000 from a charitable foundation controlled by the family of an indicted stock manipulator. Public opinion forced Fortas to resign from the bench on May 14, 1969, but he denied any wrongdoing. It was the only time in U.S. history that a Supreme Court Justice resigned under public pressure. ARTHUR JOSEPH GOLDBERG (1908-1990) served as Secretary of Labor under President John F. Kennedy from 1961-1962. Appointed by JFK on October 1, 1962 to succeed retiring Justice Felix Frankfurter, Goldberg served as an Associate Justice until 1965, when he resigned to succeed the late Adlai E. Stevenson as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Goldberg was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1978. Slightly rippled. Stamped address of collector at lower margin. Fine condition.