Franklin Delano Roosevelt appointed a total of seven justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. Author and professor of Law at Harvard, writer Noah Feldman, focuses on the Supreme Court of FDR in his book Scorpions, particularly the stories of the four most influential and revolutionary justices: Felix Frankfurter, Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and Robert Jackson. Feldman seeks to analyze what influenced each justices’ decisions in the court, and follows their evolution on the bench. Overall, Feldman concludes that while these men differed in their opinions, and often clashed, they were some of the most significant justices to serve on the court. Their individual experiences and ideologies all affected how each justice attempted to bring forth the
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FDR was the common thread that held these men together. After his death, their relationships and ideas diverged. A series of unfortunate events, such as the Republicans taking back the Senate and House, the weak Harry Truman in office, and numerous personal frustrations bred contempt amongst the Supreme Court justices. While Feldman considers none of the men “friends,” camps seemed to form. On one side was Frankfurter and Jackson, the other Black and Douglas. From cases on internment camps to steel mills, the men of the U.S. Supreme Court would argue and disagree with one another. However, Feldman notes that the last case these men presided over together was their most monumental ruling. In the 1954 case of Brown vs. Board of Education, the justices issued a unanimous ruling to de-segregate schools, a ruling that also concreted the Supreme Court as an institution for the protection of minorities. Feldman strongly emphasizes this case was the only time “Roosevelt’s justices had to go beyond their individual philosophies and self-interests, and had to work together as a coherent unit.” The ruling was not without its issues, the deal was an essential comprise “and in the sense incoherent as a statement of the law.” Thus, how and when desegregation would be accomplished, was not detailed. Yet, in all, the ruling was still considered the greatest legislation of the Roosevelt
FDR was the common thread that held these men together. After his death, their relationships and ideas diverged. A series of unfortunate events, such as the Republicans taking back the Senate and House, the weak Harry Truman in office, and numerous personal frustrations bred contempt amongst the Supreme Court justices. While Feldman considers none of the men “friends,” camps seemed to form. On one side was Frankfurter and Jackson, the other Black and Douglas. From cases on internment camps to steel mills, the men of the U.S. Supreme Court would argue and disagree with one another. However, Feldman notes that the last case these men presided over together was their most monumental ruling. In the 1954 case of Brown vs. Board of Education, the justices issued a unanimous ruling to de-segregate schools, a ruling that also concreted the Supreme Court as an institution for the protection of minorities. Feldman strongly emphasizes this case was the only time “Roosevelt’s justices had to go beyond their individual philosophies and self-interests, and had to work together as a coherent unit.” The ruling was not without its issues, the deal was an essential comprise “and in the sense incoherent as a statement of the law.” Thus, how and when desegregation would be accomplished, was not detailed. Yet, in all, the ruling was still considered the greatest legislation of the Roosevelt