Frankfurter, Felix (1882-1965), served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 until he retired in 1962. Before 1939, he spent 25 years as professor of law at Harvard University and was an influential adviser to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Roosevelt appointed him to the court.
As a Supreme Court justice, Frankfurter was a leading supporter of judicial restraint–that is, he was reluctant to interfere with the policies of the executive or legislative branches of government unless those policies were clearly unconstitutional. Frankfurter’s writings include The Case of Sacco and Vanzetti and The Commerce Clause Under Marshall, Taney and Waite.
Frankfurter was born on Nov. 15, 1882, in Vienna, Austria, and came to the United States in 1894. He learned English quickly, became an American citizen, and graduated from the College of the City of New York and Harvard Law School. He died on Feb. 22, 1965.
