Stone Court (1941–1946)

The Stone Court refers to the Supreme Court of the United States from 1941 to 1946, when Harlan F. Stone served as Chief Justice of the United States. Stone succeeded Charles Evans Hughes as Chief Justice after the latter's death, and Stone served as Chief Justice until his death, at which point Fred Vinson was nominated and confirmed as Stone's replacement. Presiding over the country during World War II, the Stone Court delivered important war-time rulings while also affecting other areas of American life.[1]

Membership

The Stone Court began in 1941, when Associate Justice Stone was confirmed to replace Charles Evans Hughes as Chief Justice. Stone had served as an Associate Justice since 1925, when President Calvin Coolidge nominated him to the bench, and President Franklin Roosevelt successfully nominated him to become Chief Justice. At the beginning of the Stone Court, the court consisted of Stone, Owen Roberts, and seven Roosevelt appointees who had joined the court since 1937: Hugo Black, Stanley F. Reed, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Frank Murphy, James F. Byrnes, and Robert H. Jackson (the latter two joined the court days after Stone's elevation to Chief Justice). In 1942, Byrnes resigned from the court to become the war-time Director of the Office of Economic Stabilization; Roosevelt appointed Wiley Blount Rutledge as his replacement. Owen Roberts retired in 1945, and President Harry Truman appointed Harold Hitz Burton to replace him. Stone died in 1946, at which point Truman appointed Fred Vinson as Stone's successor.

Harold Hitz Burton Wiley Blount Rutledge Robert H. Jackson James F. Byrnes Frank Murphy William O. Douglas Felix Frankfurter Stanley Forman Reed Hugo Black Owen Roberts Harlan F. Stone

Chief Justice Associate Justice

Rulings of the Court

Major rulings of the Stone Court include:

Judicial philosophy

Stone had largely sided with the government's position when the Hughes Court struck down several pieces of New Deal legislation, and the Stone Court (with the addition of several Roosevelt appointees) consistently upheld Congressional power pursuant to the Commerce Clause.[1] The Stone Court also upheld broad war-time powers for the government.[1] The Stone Court was less deferential in the area of civil liberties, striking down laws in cases such as Barnett, although Korematsu was a major exception to this trend.[1] Despite Roosevelt's appointment of seven of the nine justices (and the elevation of Stone), the justices held independent views and often found each other at odds in regard to civil liberties.[1][3] Stone himself received criticism for presiding over a divided and quarrelsome court.[4] Justice Frankfurter often took a position supporting judicial restraint in which the court took deference to the decisions of elected officials, while Justices Black and Douglas were more willing to strike down laws and precedents for what they saw as violations of constitutional rights.[3] Murphy and Rutledge joined Black and Douglas as part of the more liberal bloc, while Jackson, Reed, and Stone tended to side with Frankfurter.[5][6] Roberts often sided with the Frankfurter bloc, but was more conservative than the other eight justices.[6] Though outnumbered, the more liberal bloc led by Black and Douglas often took the majority in cases by peeling off the votes from the moderate bloc, and the two groupings of justices did form as tight of blocs as had existed in the Hughes Court.[7] The short length of the Stone Court gave it little chance to establish a definitive legacy.[8] However, the Stone Court continued the Constitutional Revolution of 1937 that had started during the Hughes Court and foreshadowed the liberal rulings of the Warren Court.[9]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Renstrom, Peter (2001). The Stone Court: Justices, Rulings, and Legacy. ABC-CLIO. pp. 179–180. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 Savage, David G. (24 March 2011). "U.S. official cites misconduct in Japanese American internment cases". LA Times. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  3. 1 2 Urofsky, Melvin (1988). "CONFLICT AMONG THE BRETHREN". Duke Law Journal 37 (1): 81–84. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  4. Renstrom, 40-42
  5. Urofsky, 85, 87, 92
  6. 1 2 Galloway, Jr., Russell (1 January 1983). "The Roosevelt Court: The Liberals Conquer (1937-1947) and Divide (1941-1946)". Santa Clara Law Revie 23 (2): 513–515. Retrieved 4 March 2016.
  7. Galloway, Jr., 516-520
  8. Finkelman, Paul (15 January 2014). The Supreme Court: Controversies, Cases, and Characters from John Jay to John Roberts [4 Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. pp. 819–821. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  9. Galloway, Jr., 527-531
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