Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States

Felix Frankfurter 1882-1965

Felix Frankfurter emigrated with his parents from Vienna to New York's Lower East Side in 1894. After graduating from Harvard Law School, he was recruited as the assistant to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District. In 1914, Frankfurter returned to Harvard Law School to teach administrative and criminal law. He served as a Zionist delegate to the 1919 Paris Peace Conference that ended World War I and, in 1920, he helped found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). He was a fierce advocate for labor issues and the protection of racial and religious minorities. Frankfurter remained at Harvard until 1939, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt nominated him to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he served until 1962.