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Learn moreThe definitive biography of Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court justice and champion of twentieth-century American liberal democracy
The conventional wisdom about Felix Frankfurter―Harvard law professor and Supreme Court justice―is that he struggled to fill the seat once held by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Scholars have portrayed Frankfurter as a judicial failure, a liberal lawyer turned conservative justice, and the Warren Court’s principal villain. And yet none of these characterizations rings true.
A pro-government, pro-civil rights liberal who rejected shifting political labels, Frankfurter advocated for judicial restraint―he believed that people should seek change not from the courts but through the democratic political process. Indeed, he knew American presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson, advised Franklin Roosevelt, and inspired his students and law clerks to enter government service.
Organized around presidential administrations and major political and world events, this definitive biography chronicles Frankfurter’s impact on American life. As a young government lawyer, he befriended Theodore Roosevelt, Louis Brandeis, and Holmes. As a Harvard law professor, he earned fame as a civil libertarian, Zionist, and New Deal power broker. As a justice, he hired the first African American law clerk and helped the Court achieve unanimity in outlawing racially segregated schools in Brown v. Board of Education.
In this sweeping narrative, Brad Snyder offers a full and fascinating portrait of the remarkable life and legacy of a long misunderstood American figure. This is the biography of an Austrian Jewish immigrant who arrived in the United States at age eleven speaking not a word of English, who by age twenty-six befriended former president Theodore Roosevelt, and who by age fifty was one of Franklin Roosevelt’s most trusted advisers. It is the story of a man devoted to democratic ideals, a natural orator and often overbearing justice, whose passion allowed him to amass highly influential friends and helped create the liberal establishment.
Brad Snyder is a professor of constitutional law and twentieth-century American legal history at Georgetown University Law Center. In addition to his legal scholarship, he has written for Politico, Slate, and the Washington Post. He lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.
James Fouhey is an actor and narrator living in New York City. He received classical training at Boston University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He has recorded more than forty audiobooks across a variety of genres, including science fiction, romance, young adult fiction, and children’s fiction.
Reviews
“Sweeping, searching, and scintillating.”
“Superb…Deeply researched and…wonderfully readable and accessible…Welcome reading for our troubled time.”
“The judicial restraint championed by Frankfurter has its virtues, and Mr. Snyder’s biography ably articulates them."
"Comprehensive… Snyder is well equipped to write [Frankfurter’s] first full-length biography.”
“The first work to grapple with [Frankfurter’s] life and legacy in full.”
“This is the definitive biography of a towering judicial figure."
“[This] powerhouse portrait…masterfully captures his far-reaching legacy…An exemplary biography of a true public servant, especially refreshing in today’s toxic political climate.”
“Enriches our understanding of American democracy, politics, jurisprudence, and the liberal establishment.”
“For years people interested in constitutional law and US history have missed a comprehensive biography of Felix Frankfurter, in his time the most influential figure in constitutional law and an important contributor to progressive thought and politics. Finally we have one…This is a major achievement that deserves to be widely read.”
“The conventional wisdom is that Felix Frankfurter was a liberal lawyer who became—surprisingly—a conservative justice. Brad Snyder’s spellbinding biography brilliantly revises this understanding to present Frankfurter as a champion of democracy in his day—and for our own as well.”
“A magnificent and indeed definitive biography of a vitally important but highly imperfect justice.”
“Felix Frankfurter was one of the most significant figures of the American twentieth century…Brad Snyder has given this protean man the major biography he has long deserved. Democratic Justice is vivid, meticulous, and irresistibly absorbing.”
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