Legal Biography Commons^™

Rehnquist's Missing Letter: A Former Law Clerk's 1955 Thoughts On Justice Jackson And Brown, John Q. Barrett, Brad Snyder

Faculty Publications

"I think that Plessy v. Ferguson was right and should be reaffirmed." That's what Supreme Court law clerk William H. Rehnquist wrote privately in December 1952 to his boss, Justice Robert H. Jackson. When the memorandum was made public in 1971 and Rehnquist's Supreme Court confirmation hung in the balance, he claimed that the memorandum reflected Jackson's views, not Rehnquist's. Rehnquist was confirmed, but his explanation triggered charges that he had lied and smeared the memory of one of the Court's most revered justices. This Essay analyzes a newly discovered document—a letter Rehnquist wrote to Justice Felix Frankfurter in 1955, …

Robert H. Jackson's Oral Arguments Before The New York Court Of Appeals, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

New Yorkers recall with pride that Robert Houghwout Jackson (1892-1954) was one of us. Jackson became western New York State's leading lawyer during twenty years (1913-1934) in private practice, based primarily in Jamestown. He then went to Washington, D.C., to join FDR's New Deal, and later became an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1941-1954).

We also know Robert Jackson as a great American courtroom lawyer. He was perhaps the finest Supreme Court advocate ever during his years as Solicitor General (1938-1939) and then Attorney General (1940-1941) of the United States. During 1945-1946, Justice Jackson served as …