supreme+court

 __**The Supreme Court under Truman**__







__**The Justices:**__
 * Fred M. Vinson (Chief Justice, appointed in 1946): Served seven years on the DC circuit appeals court, after Roosevelt's death Truman appointed him Secretary of Treasury, and later Supreme Court Justice.
 * Harold Hitz Buton (appointed in 1945): Burton graduated from Harvard Law, received a Purple Heart after being wounded in WWI, and was appointed as a justice by Truman after Owen Roberts resigned.
 * Tom Campbell Clark (appointed in 1949): Truman first appointed Clark as Attorney General in 1944 and was later appointed to the supreme court by Truman after the death of Frank Murphy. Congress, at first, debated his appointment because of his close ties to Truman, however, he was eventually overwhelmingly confirmed.
 * Sherman Minton (appointed in 1949): Minton seved with Truman on the Senate as a fervent New Deal supporter. After losing his reelection, he was appointed to the US Court of Appeals for the seventh circuit, and was later appointed as a justice on the Supreme Court by Truman.
 * Hugo Black (Alabama, 1937-1971): Black ran for, and was elected to, the Senate in 1926, with the help of the Ku Klux Klan, of which he was a member for three years. He was also one of FDR's most fervent supporters of the New Deal.
 * Stanley Reed (Kentucky, 1938-1957): Reed was Solicitor General before he was appointed to the Supreme Court after George Sutherland's retirement.
 * Felix Frankfurter (Massachsetts, 1939-1962): He was a professor of Administrative Law at Harvard University and a founding member of the ACLU. He was later appointed to the Supreme Court by FDR.
 * William Douglas (Conneticut 1939-1975): Attended and taught at both Yale and Colombia University, and was a member of the SEC, created by FDR in his first hundred days.
 * Robert Jackson (New York, 1941-1954): 'Jackson served as Chief of Counsel for the United States in charge of prosecuting the highest ranking Nazi leaders at Nuremberg" (The Life of Robert H. Jackson)

__**Major Cases:**__


 * Shelley v. Kraemer: Kraemer wanted to keep the Shelley's, an African-American family from owning land. The Supreme Court ruled that a court cannot constitutionally restrict the ownership of property based on race.

__**The Interactions:**__

The Supreme Court during Truman's presidency was almost completely democratic. All the justices of his time were either appointed by himself, or by FDR. As such, Truman and the Court didn't have any major difficulties. However, his appointment of Fred Vinson as chief justice was because of some inner-court rifts. Hugo Black and William Douglas threatened to resign if, Jackson was made chief justices (he was promised the position by FDR when he was origionally appointed). Truman, instead, put Vinson in as chief justice to avoid disputes within the Court.

Back to Introduction Presidency  __Congress __