Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurter
Felix Frankfurterwas a jurist, who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Frankfurter was born in Vienna and immigrated to New York at the age of 12. He graduated from Harvard Law School and was active politically, helping to found the American Civil Liberties Union. He was a friend and adviser of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who appointed him to the Supreme Court in 1939. Frankfurter served on the Supreme Court for 23 years, and was...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionSupreme Court Justice
Date of Birth15 November 1882
CountryUnited States of America
There is torture of mind as well as body; the will is as much affected by fear as by force. And there comes a point where this Court should not be ignorant as judges of what we know as men.
Freedom of speech and of the press are essential to the enlightenment of a free people and in restraining those who wield power.
It has not been unknown that judges persist in error to avoid giving the appearance of weakness and vacillation.
The Procrustean bed is not a symbol of equality. It is no less inequality to have equality among unequals.
No court can make time stand still.
The line must follow some direction of policy, whether rooted in logic or experience. Lines should not be drawn simply for the sake of drawing lines.
Of compelling consideration is the fact that words acquire scope and function from the history of events which they summarize.
Ambiguity lurks in generality and may thus become an instrument of severity.
A court which yields to the popular will thereby licenses itself to practice despotism, for there can be no assurance that it will not on another occasion indulge its own will.
Morals are three-quarters manners.
It simply is not true that war never settles anything.
Anybody can decide a question if only a single principle is in controversy.
The dynamo of our economic system is self-interest which may range from mere petty greed to admirable types of self-expression.
Liberty of thought soon shrivels without freedom of expression. Nor can truth be pursued in an atmosphere hostile to the endeavor or under dangers which are hazarded only by heroes.