Hugo L. Black and the Dilemma of American Liberalism (Library of American Biography Series) (Library of American Biography)

Book Description

Hugo Black's odyssey was long, varied, unlikely, and remarkably successful. It began in 1886 in the Alabama hill country and ended in 1971, when Americans were demonstrating in the streets. As a United States senator from 1927 to 1937 and then for thirty-four years on the United States Supreme Court as its most passionate civil libertarian, Black fought for the rights and welfare of all people.

Here is the first full-scale biography of this commanding figure. Never before has the story been so richly told. Roger Newman reveals much we did not know -- about Black's activities in the Ku Klux Klan and the furor over his appointment by FDR to the Supreme Court. He takes us behind the scenes at the Court and into its secret conferences, showing us the preparation of opinions and explaining the relationships among the justices.

Black is seen as he was -- a brilliant trial lawyer, the investigating senator called by one reporter "a walking encyclopedia with a Southern accent," and the wily politician and astute justice who led the redirection of American law toward the protection of the individual.

Black's story, is also an American story, filled with vivid accounts of his friendships and often dramatic encounters with FDR, Harry Truman, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Earl Warren, Lyndon Johnson, and William J. Brennan, Jr. Newman gives us a fascinating portrait of Black -- the captivating charmer with the steel backbone and stronger will, and the self-taught, scholarly, cracker populist who termed himself "a rather backward country fellow."

More than a decade in the making, drawing upon an astonishing array of sources, including Black's family papers, to which Newman had exclusive access, and more than one thousand interviews, this moving, instructive biography is written with grace, sweep, and verve. A book to stand beside Beveridge's classic life of John Marshall and Catherine Drinker Bowen's popular Yankee from Olympus, Hugo Black is the extraordinary story of a man who bestrode his era like a colossus.

Customer Reviews:

This should be your first book about the Supreme Court.......2005-12-29

I had a great Constitutional law professor while I was in law school. He had all these stories of the Supreme Court behind the scenes, and it brought the law to life. So I started to look around for Supreme Court biographies. About 6 years later, I'm still reading them. This is the best I have come across. Love him or hate him, Hugo Black is one of the 10 most important Justices in history, most would agree. More than that--he had a strong, controversial, well-thought-out point of view about the law, though he was friends with many people who absolutely disagreed with him. He is interesting to conservatives and liberals alike and he challenges us to use our brains because he doesn't fit neatly into modern ideas of what it is to be Republican or Democrat. For instance, he's known as a "judicial activist," but he was a textualist (like Scalia). He's also something of an original intent guy (though he doesn't ignore the Amendments like the 14th Amendment that were passed long after the "founding fathers" died). He didn't believe in what's called "substantive due process"---the notion of fairness that many jurists find in the Constitution's due process clause(s). In other words---abortion, gay rights, right to die, anything labeled as a privacy right---he had his views on what the law SHOULD be but...well, as Hugo said (paraphrasing): "I like my privacy as much as the next man, but I don't find it in the Constitution." Also, he wrote Korematsu, the opinion that allowed the government to put Japanese-Americans into internment camps during the war years. Along with Justice Douglas, he was the most vigorous protector of the First Amendment free speech rights that the Court has ever had. He was banned for years from Alabama because of his assistance in desegregaing the nation and providing equal protection to African Americans (which is interesting in light of his KKK past). Thus, if you're a fan of the liberal Warren Court era OR a fan of Scalia and Thomas's modern/throwback textualist and originalist ideas, there is much for you to learn. That aside, Hugo's story was fascinating. Other reviewers have remarked on his KKK and New Deal Senator past. He was also one of the longest sitting Justices---30 years or so. This book is an easy read and you'll get a feel for Hugo's PERSONALITY, not just his actions. (I think of him as "Hugo" rather than Justice Black because I think of him as a friend...and that's due to this book).

From KKK member to the Supreme Court: A fascinating story.......2002-07-09

What more can you say to attract a reader than this book is the story of a southern lawyer who begins as a member of the Ku Klax Klan in Alabama and ends his career as one of the most respected members of the United States Supreme Court. WOW! The truth IS stranger than fiction.

This book was written by one of Justice Black's former law clerks on the Court. It is well-written and gives great insight into the man, his methods, convictions, passions, and flaws.

Highly recommended for those who are fans of the Court's jurisprudence during the era of expanding protection of individual rights.

An excellent study of Justice Black's jurisprudence.......2001-01-06

Justice Black was (and is) a fascinating study in American constitutional theory -- an unabashed and lifelong Democrat, Black surprised many, especially toward the end of his life, when he often refused to join in the Warren court's adventures into judicial activism. Newman's biography is comprehensive, touching on all the key points of Black's life both on and off the bench, including a lenghty examination of his now-famous First Amendment jurisprudence. Black emerges in three dimensions, as a complicated and passionate advocate and jurist. Three minor flaws: first, Newman, obviously in awe of Black, occasionally misses an opportunity to fairly criticize some of his opinions; secondly, the book does not always flow smoothly, but often advances in a rough, staccato fashion (a venial flaw, considering the complicated subject matter). Finally, toward the end of the book, Newman becomes somewhat overly-sentimental - hardly a page goes by without Newman describing the "tears pouring down Black's face" as he recalls his youth and public service. Again, given the author's clear love of his subject, this is forgiveable.

Overall, a fantastic book - a must read for any Supreme Court scholar.

Essential reading to understand 20th Century American law.......2000-01-15

This is a towering work on the life of Justice Black, who, more than any other man, shaped our concept of what civil liberties were in the late 20th century.

While author Roger K. Newman clearly worships Justice Black, he isn't blind to the almost inexplicable inconsistencies in Black's thinking: how, for example, the civil libertarian who fought to extend the prohibitions of the Bill of Rights to state action could dismiss the importance of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable search and seizure! Newman's account of Black's voyage from lifetime membership in the Ku Klux Klan to champion of equal rights is a much more clear-eyed look at the inherent contradictions thereof than Black's own fumbling efforts to explain his paradigm shift.

The author strikes a delicate balance between the intricacies of legal reasoning (of probable interest only to law students like myself) and simple storytelling which will fascinate the uninitiated. He tells you enough, but not too much!

This book amply fulfills the primary purpose of all recent histories--it gives the reader a much clearer understanding of how we got where we are today from where we were at the turn of the last century.

A fascinating book about a fascinating figure.......1996-11-27

From his time as a United States Senator to his retirement from the Supreme Court in 1971 Hugo Black was never boring. His career was marked by a willingness to defend those who needed a defense. As a successful attorney in Birmingham Black refused to represent large corporations, only individuals who desperately needed his help. As a Senator Black argued for legislation to help the same group of people. And as a Supreme Court Justice Black became known as the leading libertartian of his time. Roger Newman captures Black brilliantly, both as a man and as a public figure. Newman looks at Black dispassionately during good times and bad. From his time in the KKK thru his tenure on the court, Newman's analysis is honest and insightful. If you are interested in the Supreme Court or American history this book is a must read.

Of Power and Right: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and America's Constitutional Revolution

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Of Power and Right: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, and America's Constitutional Revolution
Howard Ball , and Phillip J. Cooper
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Hugo Black: A Biography
Hugo Black and the Judicial Revolution
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ASIN: 0195046129

Book Description

Hugo Black and William O. Douglas, two of the towering Supreme Court justices of this century, formed a fascinating personal and professional relationship that lasted for more than 30 years, from the 1930s to the 1970s. Together, they were embroiled in some of the most momentous social, political, and economic conflicts in American history. While many observers of the Supreme Court have regarded them as having a uniquely close alliance at the core of the Warren Court, they were quite different jurists, marching to very distinct drummers. Of Power and Right tells the story of this curious relationship and the turbulent era in which it took place. Hugo Black was a much admired, congenial man. A gracious Southerner, he could be as hard and immovable as granite once he'd made up his mind. An ardent advocate of free speech and press, he was a Puritan who had difficulty accepting behavior outside his own personal standard of morality. For him, the fundamental issue was the power of the people to govern, first through the Constitution, and then, where the Constitution was not clear, through their elected officials. William O. Douglas was a very different man. Tough and even petulant, he could also be extremely shy and sensitive. A staunch defender of the Court and its role, he was often willing to plunge it into the middle of society's most divisive debates. He believed first and foremost in individual rights, and believed that the Court's most important job was keeping government off the backs of the people. Though close on and off the job, the two men frequently clashed over this fundamental difference between power and right. The Black-Douglas years saw unprecedented social and political upheavals, from the New Deal and the civil rights movement to the Vietnam War, and the Supreme Court was called upon time and again to reexamine and often fundamentally alter definitions of equality and liberty in every area of American life. Howard Ball and Phillip Cooper chronicle each man's confrontation with the issues before the court and the often heated debates that resulted. They develop the central tension in American political life between democratically exercised power and individual freedom that so often occupied Black and Douglas and about which they so often differed. In so doing, the authors paint a full and compelling portrait not just of Black and Douglas, but of the institution of the Supreme Court during these years, showing us a Court that is more human, more politically aware, and more diverse than we have traditionally seen. The friendship of Hugo Black and William O. Douglas, and the differences that divided them, provide a unique window on the Supreme Court and the society it serves.

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Great Bio on a Great Justice

Hugo Black and the Judicial Revolution
Gerald T. Dunne
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Hugo Black: A Biography
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ASIN: 067124406X

Customer Reviews:

Great Bio on a Great Justice.......2007-09-21

This book was a fantastic look at the complex mind of a self-described, "backward country fellow." Black was what we might term an "originalist" for his strict adherence to the Constitution and Bill of Rights, but being a liberal, be firmly believed what judges were allowed to do gave them immeasurable powers to enforce the rights and liberties of the people! Dunne gives us more than just a biography; he gives us an analysis of how Black came to develop his fascinating theory of Constitutional interpretation and some hints surrounding why near the end of his life he grew so conservative. It is a great book, and I highly recommend it.

Hugo Black of Alabama: How His Roots and Early Career Shaped the Great Champion of the Constitution

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Hugo Black Biography
A superbly researched and written biography of Hugo Black
Supreme Court Justices
IMHO Suitts's is a third rate hack

Hugo Black of Alabama: How His Roots and Early Career Shaped the Great Champion of the Constitution
Steve Suitts
Manufacturer: NewSouth Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Mr. Justice and Mrs. Black: The Memoirs of Hugo L. Black and Elizabeth Black
Hugo Black: A Biography
Becoming Justice Blackmun: Harry Blackmun's Supreme Court Journey
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Team of Rivals

ASIN: 1588381447

Book Description

Three decades after his death, the life and career of Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black continue to be studied and discussed. This latest and perhaps definitive study of Black's origins and early influences has been 25 years in the making and offers fresh insights into the justice's character, thought processes, and instincts. Black came out of hardscrabble Alabama hill country, and he never forgot his origins. He was further shaped in the early 20th-century politics of Birmingham, where he set up a law practice and began his political career, eventually rising to the U.S. Senate, from which he was selected by FDR for the high court. Black's nomination was opposed partly on the grounds that he had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan. One of the book's conclusions that is sure to be controversial is that in the context of Birmingham in the early 1920s, Black's joining of the KKK was a progressive act. This startling assertion is supported by an examination of the conflict that was then raging in Birmingham between the Big Mule industrialists and the blue-collar labor unions. Black, of course, went on to become a staunch judicial advocate of free speech and civil rights, thus making him one of the figures most vilified by the KKK and other white supremacists in the 1950s and 1960s.

Customer Reviews:

Hugo Black Biography.......2006-03-14

Response time was very short. You couldl tell that the book was used, but nothing beyond what would be considered "normal" wear. Overall conditioin was very good.

A superbly researched and written biography of Hugo Black.......2005-10-11

This superbly researched and written biography of Hugo Black recreates for the reader the times in which the Deep South was bound up by traditions of white supremacy and how a Southern white man developed a judicial philosophy and temperament to help end America's legal segregation and restore a simple justice that was the hoped for outcome of the American civil war, but which had been undercut by the development of a "Jim Crow" social order of repression and segregation. Biographer Steve Suitts provides new and pivotal information as he lays out the story of Black's personal and public life, provides new perspectives on the sweeping forces that shaped the destiny of Black's life, and the struggle for racial justice in the first quarter of the 20th century. A work of impressive and accessible scholarship, Hugo Black Of Alabama is a highly commended addition to community and academic library American Biography and Judicial History collections.

Supreme Court Justices.......2005-09-07

Very timely, with the recent death of Judge Rehnquist, the book gives and in-depth picture of a man who follows his own ideals of truth, justice and the equality of all men, regardless of color or faith.

IMHO Suitts's is a third rate hack.......2005-07-21

I've only read bits and pieces of his book, but a recent opinion piece that he penned in the Fulton County Daily Report--in which he maliciously attacks a sitting federal judge and attempts to whitewash Hugo Black's vile racist/anti-Catholic tactics during an infamous Birmingham, Alabama murder trial in the 1920s--strongly suggests to me that Suitts's book is not worth the trouble.

In a word, Suitts appears to me to be nothing more than a liberal, partisan hack.

Mr. Justice and Mrs. Black: The Memoirs of Hugo L. Black and Elizabeth Black

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Ahh the heartiness..

Mr. Justice and Mrs. Black: The Memoirs of Hugo L. Black and Elizabeth Black
Hugo L. Black , and Elizabeth Black
Manufacturer: Horizon Book Promotions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0394544323

Customer Reviews:

Ahh the heartiness.........2007-06-18

(shakes Hugo's hand vigorously..) welcomE (Welcome)goOd man:It's an honor to have had Justice Black on the Supreme court presiding and overriding previous cases to the advantage of the individual and the minority race and religion.Yes a former Klu Klux Klan member when it was fashionable and honorable in this country to be so,justice Black overrode his colleagues cases when it was his "Turn" to do so: BecomiNg one of the champions of individual liberty and religious freedom.Naysayers be wary of judgement And the thoughts that a persons affiliations braNd his destiny!Strom Thurman should be so proud of him!

Hugo L. Black: Justice for all (Alabama roots biography series)

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Hugo L. Black: Justice for all (Alabama roots biography series)
Roz Morris
Manufacturer: Seacoast Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: 1878561855

Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court: The Story of Justice Wiley Rutledge

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A Little Prejudiced....
Author & subject both "salt of the earth"
A Fine Biography of a Neglected Justice

Salt of the Earth, Conscience of the Court: The Story of Justice Wiley Rutledge
John M. Ferren
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
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Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0807828661
Release Date: 2004-09-08

Book Description

The Kentucky-born son of a Baptist preacher, with an early tendency toward racial prejudice, Supreme Court Justice Wiley Rutledge (1894-1949) became one of the Court's leading liberal activists and an early supporter of racial equality, free speech, and church-state separation. Drawing on more than 160 interviews, John M. Ferren provides a valuable analysis of Rutledge's life and judicial decisionmaking and offers the most comprehensive explanation to date for the Supreme Court nominations of Rutledge, Felix Frankfurter, and William O. Douglas.

Rutledge was known for his compassion and fairness. He opposed discrimination based on gender and poverty and pressed for expanded rights to counsel, due process, and federal review of state criminal convictions. During his brief tenure on the Court (he died following a stroke at age fifty-five), he contributed significantly to enhancing civil liberties and the rights of naturalized citizens and criminal defendants, became the Court's most coherent expositor of the commerce clause, and dissented powerfully from military commission convictions of Japanese generals after World War II. Through an examination of Rutledge's life, Ferren highlights the development of American common law and legal education, the growth of the legal profession and related institutions, and the evolution of the American court system, including the politics of judicial selection.

Customer Reviews:

A Little Prejudiced...........2007-04-10

For anyone with an interest in law or history this is a great read. Justice Rutledge was my grandfather's first cousin -- thus the initial reason I bought the book. Unfortunately the dust jacket was crinkled upon arrival so I'll have to send it back for a new copy.

Author & subject both "salt of the earth".......2005-01-18

As the folks at Amazon could tell you, I read many novels and very few biographies. I am a corporate lawyer, and have not practiced constitutional law since I clerked for Judge Ferren, the author of this Rutledge bio, more than 20 years ago. I picked up this book because of my connection to the author, but I stuck with it for other reasons. First, the writing is elegant and precise; it is a very readable book. The book tells the story of a good man (and very good lawyer/dean/judge) who is concerned with doing his job right, respected others, was respected by others in return, and achieved great things -- what an encouraging, uncynical story! (Not dissimilar to the author's own story, a fact that creates an extra richness of texture in this book, especially in its descriptions of the life of an appellate judge.) In addition, the constitutional issues that the Court dealt with during WWII and the immediate post-war era remain fascinating -- and very timely. These issues are made understandable to nonexperts without being oversimplified. I learned a lot, and greatly enjoyed the process.

A Fine Biography of a Neglected Justice.......2004-12-15

At long last, thanks to Judge Ferren, we have a complete biography of Justice Wiley Rutledge. While Rutledge is not much remembered today, and his tenure on the Supreme Court was relatively brief (1943-49), his significance merits more attention than he has received. Judge Ferren employs a completely different approach than the only other biography of the Justice, Harper's "Justice Rutledge and the Bright Constellation" (1965). Harper focused almost exclusively upon Justice Rutledge's decisions. Judge Ferren does not get Rutledge on the court until page 222 (out of 548). While one might conclude that perhaps too much detail occupies the pre-Court discussion, I can't think of another judicial biography that so effectively affords one a feeling of becoming so intimately familiar with its subject. This initial section is particularly effective in discussing the political maneuvering that accompanied filling several vacancies on the Court, including Rutledge's. The book's central focus, Rutledge on the Court, is very well developed. Judge Ferren not only brings his own insight into the judicial process to his analysis, but discusses some unique aspects as well, such as Rutledge's habit of asking trusted law faculty members their opinions on issues before the court, and Rutledge's exhaustive preparation for writing opinions. The book also adds to our understanding of the personal interplay in that most bombastic of Supreme Courts, that chaired by Chief Justice Stone. Interspersed with the discussion of Court cases is additional biographical material relating to the Justice. Finally, the underlying research is simply awesome--truly a labor of love. While it is a very long book, if you are interested in Justice Rutledge or his period on the Court, it makes for indispensable reading.

Antagonists: Hugo Black, Felix Frankfuter and Civil Liberties in Modern America

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A good examination of two great justices

Antagonists: Hugo Black, Felix Frankfuter and Civil Liberties in Modern America
James F. Simon
Manufacturer: Touchstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

A good examination of two great justices.......2003-12-26

Here, James Simon presents a concise (260 pages) treatment of the relationship between Hugo Black and Felix Frankfurter. These two justices were the greatest of their age, they defined the debate over constitutional law and most scholars were lined up behind one or the other justice. Both were placed on the Court by FDR in the late 1930s and they dealt with the change from the older property/federalism focus of the Court to the individual rights era. Simon begins with brief biographical sketches of each justice and than he examines a variety of cases over their 25 years of service together to show their different approaches to civil liberties.

This is a good book but not a great one. It is best for a new comer to the Court's history. Simon provides a good overview without getting bogged down in points of dispute or too much analytical analysis of individual cases that would easily confuse those without backround in the subject. The book is an easy read and will illuminate the Court's postwar history without confusing the unfamiliar reader. Those familiar with the subject will find little new in this book, but, even so, the anecdotes are entertaining and provide a different perspective to familiar cases.

Constitutional Faiths: Felix Frankfurter, Hugo Black and the Process of Judicial Decision Making
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Constitutional Faiths: Felix Frankfurter, Hugo Black and the Process of Judicial Decision Making
Mark Silverstein
Manufacturer: Cornell Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0801416507

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