Abe Fortas
Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court
In office October 4, 1965 – May 14, 1969
Nominated by	Lyndon Johnson
Preceded by	Arthur Goldberg
Succeeded by	Harry Blackmun
Born	June 19, 1910 Memphis, Tennessee
Died	April 5, 1982

Abe Fortas (June 19, 1910–April 5, 1982) was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice. He served in that role from October 4, 1965 until May 14, 1969, when he resigned under pressure. Justice Abe Fortas LBJ Library Photo by Frank Wolfe This image has been released into the public domain by the copyright holder, its copyright has expired, or it is ineligible for copyright. ... The Justices of the United States Supreme Court, other than the Chief Justice, are termed Associate Justices. ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ... Arthur Goldberg Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908 – January 19, 1990) was an American statesman and jurist who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Supreme Court Justice and Ambassador to the United Nations. ... Justice Harry Blackmun Harry Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 – March 4, 1999) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The River City, The Bluff City, M-Town Location Location in Shelby County and the state of Tennessee Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Tennessee Shelby County Mayor W. W. Herenton (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 294. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap years). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 195 days remaining. ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Sunday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar. ... April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap years). ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the judicial branch of the United States federal government. ... Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States. ... October 4 is the 277th day of the year (278th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ...

Early Years

Fortas was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was the youngest of five children. His father, a native of England, was an Orthodox Jew who worked as a cabinetmaker. Abe Fortas acquired a life-long love for music from his father, who encouraged his playing the violin, and was known in Memphis as "Fiddlin' Abe Fortas". He attended public schools in Memphis, and graduated from Southwestern (now known as Rhodes College) in 1930. Flag Seal Nickname: The River City, The Bluff City, M-Town Location Location in Shelby County and the state of Tennessee Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Tennessee Shelby County Mayor W. W. Herenton (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 294. ... Official language(s) English Capital Nashville Largest city Memphis Largest metro area Nashville Area  Ranked 36th  - Total 42,169 sq mi (109,247 km²)  - Width 120 miles (195 km)  - Length 440 miles (710 km)  - % water 2. ... Motto: (French for God and my right) Anthem: God Save the King/Queen Capital London Largest city London Official language(s) English (de facto) Unification    - by Athelstan AD 927  Area    - Total 130,395 km² (1st in UK)   50,346 sq mi  Population    - 2006 est. ... Orthodox Judaism is one of the three major branches of Judaism. ... This does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is on the private, non-profit university in Memphis, for the chain of for-profit colleges, go to Rhodes Colleges, Inc. ... This article is on the private, non-profit university in Memphis, for the chain of for-profit colleges, go to Rhodes Colleges, Inc. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link is to a full 1930 calendar). ...

Fortas left Memphis to enroll in Yale Law School. He graduated second in his class in 1933 (second only to another Memphian, Luke Finlay) and was Editor in Chief of the Yale Law Journal. One of his professors, William O. Douglas, was impressed with Fortas and arranged for him to stay at Yale and become an assistant professor. The Sterling Law Building Sculptural ornamentation on the Sterling Law Building Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... The Yale Law Journal, published continuously since 1891, is by far the oldest and most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students at Yale Law School. ... William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. ...

Shortly thereafter, Douglas left Yale to run the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, DC. Fortas commuted between New Haven and Washington both teaching at Yale and advising the SEC. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, commonly referred to as the SEC, is the United States governing body which has primary responsibility for overseeing the regulation of the securities industry. ... Aerial photo (looking NW) of the Washington Monument and the White House in Washington, DC. Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia (also known as D.C.; Washington; the Nations Capital; the District; and, historically, the Federal City) is the capital city and administrative district of the United... This article is about the city in Connecticut. ...

Early Government Service

He served as general counsel of the Public Works Administration and as Undersecretary of the Interior during the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration. While he was working at the Department of the Interior, the Secretary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes, introduced him to a young congressman from Texas, Lyndon Johnson. The Public Works Administration of 1933 was a New Deal agency that made contracts with private firms for construction of public works. ... FDR redirects here. ... The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is a Cabinet department of the United States government that manages and conserves most federally-owned land. ... The United States Secretary of the Interior is the head of the United States Department of the Interior, concerned with such matters as national parks and The Secretary is a member of the Presidents Cabinet. ... Harold LeClair Ickes (March 15, 1874–February 3, 1952) was a U.S. administrator and political figure. ... For other uses, see Texas (disambiguation). ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ...

Private Practice

After leaving government service, Fortas started the firm Arnold, Fortas & Porter. It became one of Washington's most influential law firms. Arnold & Porter is a Washington, D.C. law firm founded by New Deal veterans Thurman Arnold, Paul Porter, and Abe Fortas. ...

In 1948, Lyndon Johnson ran for the Democratic nomination for one of Texas' seats in the US Senate. He won the primary by only 87 votes. His opponent convinced a federal judge to issue an order taking Johnson's name off of the general election ballot while the primary results were being contested; there were serious allegations of corruption in the voting process, including 200 Johnson votes that had been cast in alphabetical order. Johnson asked Fortas for help, and Fortas persuaded a U.S. Supreme Court Justice, Hugo Black, to overturn the ruling. Johnson became a U.S. Senator, winning the general election. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Seal of the U.S. Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral United States Congress, the other being the House of Representatives. ... A primary election is an election in which registered voters in a jurisdiction select the candidates who will enter a subsequent election (nominating primary). ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... Hugo Black Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937 - 1971). ... The United States Senate is the upper house of the U.S. Congress, smaller than the United States House of Representatives. ...

The Gideon Case

In 1962, Fortas was asked to represent Clarence Earl Gideon's appeal before the Supreme Court. Gideon, a poor man from Florida, had been convicted of breaking into a pool hall. He could not afford a lawyer, and none was provided for him. Fortas and a team of attorneys from his firm spent months preparing the appellate brief, and won a unanimous decision from the Supreme Court for Gideon. This decision, Gideon v. Wainwright, solidified the constitutional right of criminal defendants to have legal counsel when charged with any offenses. 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar). ... Clarence Earl Gideon Clarence Earl Gideon (August 30, 1910 – January 18, 1972) was a poor drifter accused in a Florida state court of felony theft, who fought to have a lawyer appointed to his case resulting in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Gideon v. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Holding The Sixth Amendment right to counsel is a fundamental right applied to the states through the Fourteenth, and requires that indigent criminal defendants be provided counsel at trial. ...

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court

In 1965, Lyndon Johnson, then President, persuaded Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg to resign his seat to become Ambassador to the United Nations. He then appointed his longtime friend, Abe Fortas, to the court. On the Court, Fortas was a reliable liberal, authoring the notable opinion in 1969's Tinker v. Des Moines School District accepting the rights of schoolchildren to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. Fortas dissented when the Court upheld some public intoxication laws, for example 1968's Powell v. Texas. 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). ... Arthur Goldberg Arthur Joseph Goldberg (August 8, 1908 – January 19, 1990) was an American statesman and jurist who served as the U.S. Secretary of Labor, Supreme Court Justice and Ambassador to the United Nations. ... United States Ambassador to the United Nations, full title, Representative of the United States of America to the United Nations, with the rank and status of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Representative of the United States of America in the Security Council of the United Nations (also known as the... Holding The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, did not permit a public school to punish a student for wearing a black armband as an anti-war protest, absent any evidence that the rule was necessary to avoid substantial interference with school discipline or the rights of others. ... Combatants Republic of Vietnam United States Republic of Korea Thailand Australia New Zealand The Philippines National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam Democratic Republic of Vietnam People’s Republic of China Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea Strength US 1,000,000 South Korea 300,000 Australia 48,000... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ...

When Chief Justice Earl Warren announced his retirement in June 1968, Johnson nominated Fortas to replace Warren as Chief Justice. However, the Warren Court's Constitutional jurisprudence had angered many conservative members of the United States Senate, and the nomination of Fortas, who was generally a reliable liberal vote on the Court, provided the first opportunity for these senators to register their disenchantment with the direction of the Court. Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney of Alameda County, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). ... 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1968 calendar). ... The Chief Justice of the United States is the head of the judicial branch of the government of the United States, and presides over the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Seal of the U.S. Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the bicameral United States Congress, the other being the House of Representatives. ...

Also controversial was Fortas's acceptance of $15,000 for speaking engagements at the American University law school. While not illegal, the size of the fee raised much concern about the court's insulation from private interests, especially as it was funded by Fortas's former clients and partners. Fortas also faced hostile questioning about his relationship with Lyndon Johnson while on the Court. At his confirmation hearing, Fortas denied continuing as an advisor to Johnson, though White House tapes now prove this to be untrue, as Johnson consulted with Fortas about political matters frequently while Fortas was on the Court.^{[citation needed]} For other universities known as American University, see American University (disambiguation). ... Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ...

Fortas's nomination resulted in a five day filibuster led by Republicans and conservative southern Democrats ("Dixiecrats"). A cloture motion to end the filibuster failed. At that time, 67 votes were needed to stop debate (it is now 60). The vote was 45-43, with 10 Republicans and 35 Democrats voting for cloture and 24 Republicans and 19 Democrats voting against cloture. The 12 other Senators, all Democrats, were not present. Fortas then withdrew his name from consideration. The next president, Richard Nixon, a Republican, appointed Warren E. Burger as Chief Justice. A filibuster is a process, typically an extremely long speech, that is used primarily to stall the legislative process and thus derail a particular piece of legislation, rather than to make a particular point in the content of the diversion per se. ... The Dixiecrats were a white supremacist splinter-party of the Democratic Party in the mid-20th century who were determined to protect what they saw as the southern way of life against an oppressive United States federal government. ... In parliamentary procedure, cloture (pr: KLO-cher) (also called closure, and sometimes a guillotine) is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. ... Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. ... Warren Burger at a press conference in May 1969 shortly after he was nominated to be Chief Justice of the United States. ...

Fortas remained on the bench, but in 1969, a new scandal arose. Fortas had accepted a secret $20,000 retainer from the family foundation of Wall Street financier Louis Wolfson, a friend and former client, in January 1966. Fortas signed a contract with Wolfson's foundation; in return for unspecified advice it was to pay Fortas $20,000 a year for the rest of Fortas's life (and then pay his widow for the rest of her life). Wolfson was under investigation for securities violations at the time and expected that his arrangement with Fortas would help him stave off criminal charges or help him secure a presidential pardon; Fortas denied that he ever helped Wolfson. Wolfson was convicted of violating federal securities laws later that year and spent time in prison, and Fortas returned the retainer. When Chief Justice Earl Warren was informed of the incident by the new Attorney General John N. Mitchell, he persuaded Fortas to resign to protect the reputation of the Court and avoid lenghty impeachment proceedings, which were in their preliminary stages. President Nixon eventually appointed as his replacement Harry A. Blackmun, after two previous nominations failed. 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1969 calendar). ... Louis Elwood Wolfson (January 28, 1912 -) was a Wall Street financier. ... Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney of Alameda County, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). ... Mitchell (far left) meeting with Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover, and John Ehrlichman on May 26, 1971. ... Harold Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 - March 4, 1999) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. ...

Later Years

Rebuffed in the wake of his fall by the powerful Washington law firm he had founded, Fortas founded another and maintained a successful law practice until his death in 1982.

Fortas was the author of Concerning Dissent and Civil Disobedience.

In 1939, he married Carolyn E. Agger, a successful tax lawyer. They had no children.

Fortas' Legacy

To this day, Fortas is perhaps best remembered for the filibuster that torpedoed his nomination as Chief Justice, and in 2005 Abe Fortas again became a focus of controversy as the Republicans considered changing Senate rules to eliminate filibusters of judicial appointments, a plan referred to as the "nuclear option." Democrats cited the Fortas filibuster as a precedent for their more recent filibusters. Republicans pointed to differences between the events of 1968 and the Democrats' judicial filibusters during the George W. Bush presidency. 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The expression nuclear option, as used in American politics circa 2005, is a catchphrase referring to a political maneuver that would allow the US Senate majority (currently Republicans hold 55 of 100 seats) to prevent the minority party (currently Democrats) from filibustering judicial nominees, making it easier for the President...

External links

• Hatching a New Filibuster Precedent - Findlaw article by John Dean on the Fortas nomination filibuster.
• Supreme Court Justices - Abe Fortas

The Warren Court
1965–1967:	H. Black | Wm. O. Douglas | T.C. Clark | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | A. Fortas
1967–1969:	H. Black | Wm. O. Douglas | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | A. Fortas | T. Marshall
The Burger Court
1969:	H. Black | Wm. O. Douglas | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | A. Fortas | T. Marshall