Religion & The Supreme Court

The Jewish Justices 1916–present

Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1865–1941)

Supreme Court term: 1916–1939

“There is no inconsistency between loyalty to America and loyalty to Jewry. The Jewish spirit, the product of our religion and experiences, is essentially modern and essentially American.”

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Brandeis was raised in a secular family that identified with the “Jewish race,” but didn’t allow “religious belief to overshadow their interest in the broader aspects of humanity.” Not interested in Jewish affairs until introduced to Zionism at the turn of the century, he served on the General Zionist Affairs executive committee during World War I. Although he resigned this post when President Woodrow Wilson nominated him to the Supreme Court, he continued to work for Zionist causes behind the scenes throughout his life. Brandeis believed that support for Zionism was an American cause: As he once said, “To be good Americans we must be better Jews, and to be better Jews, we must become Zionists.” Opposition to his appointment on the Supreme Court came primarily because of his reform-minded views rather than anti-Semitism. During his term, he became known as the “people’s justice,” for his defense of civil liberties.  [return to top]

Benjamin Nathan Cardozo 1870–1938

Supreme Court term: 1932–1938

“Prophecy, however honest, is generally a poor substitute for experience.”

Cardozo was born into a Sephardic Jewish family in New York City, where his father was a judge and vice-president of Congregation Shearith Israel. Shortly after his bar mitzvah, Cardozo became an agnostic but continued to proudly identify himself as a Jew. Partly because of the discrimination caused by “polite” anti-Semitism of the 1920s New York City culture, he was active in Jewish community affairs, particularly the Judean Club. In the 1928 presidential election, Cardozo opposed Herbert Hoover primarily because of his belief that Republicans were “Jew haters” who wanted an “exclusively Protestant government.” Ironically, it was Hoover who appointed him to the Supreme Court.  [return to top]

Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965)

Supreme Court term 1939–1962

“I came into the world a Jew, and although I did not live my life entirely as a Jew, I think it is fitting that I should leave as a Jew. I don’t want to turn my back on a great and noble heritage.”

Frankfurter, born in Vienna, Austria, was the first naturalized American to be appointed to the Supreme Court. He immigrated to New York’s Lower East Side at age 12 with his Orthodox rabbi father, mother and four siblings. He spoke Yiddish and Hebrew before he learned English. He alternated between private practice and government service until becoming a professor at Harvard Law School (1914–1938), where he became known as an expert in constitutional law and federal jurisdiction. During those years, he was actively involved in many liberal and Jewish political activities: rallying for equal rights for all Americans at the first American Jewish Congress (1918), attending the Paris Peace Conference (1919) as a Zionist delegate, and helping to found the American Civil Liberties Union (1920). Having been an adviser to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as well as a friend of Brandeis, Frankfurter assumed the “Jewish seat” on the Court after Cardozo retired.  [return to top]

Arthur Joseph Goldberg (1908–1990)

Supreme Court term: 1962–1965

“I’m proud of my Jewish heritage; I don’t like any American who’s not proud of his heritage.”

The youngest of a Russian immigrant peddler’s eight children, Goldberg grew up on Chicago’s West Side. His father died when he was eight years old. While working at odd jobs, Goldberg graduated from high school at 16 and completed a Bachelors in Law at Northwestern University by 19 and his JD three years later. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Goldberg to be Secretary of Labor, and in 1962 nominated him to the Supreme Court. Among his most notable decisions was his opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut, an expansive interpretation of the right to privacy, originally drafted by his clerk, Stephen Breyer. When President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Goldberg to step down to take Adlai Stevenson’s place as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 1965, he agreed primarily because of his opposition to the Vietnam War; he believed he could make more of an impact on this issue at the UN. Frustrated with the UN, Goldberg retired from government service in 1968 and became president of the American Jewish Committee.  [return to top]

Abraham Fortas (1910–1982)

Supreme Court term: 1965–1969

“The First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion.”

The son of Orthodox Jewish immigrants from England, Fortas graduated from high school in Memphis, Tennessee, at age 15. After attending Yale University Law School, he was assistant professor of law under William O. Douglas before becoming an aide to Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes during World War II. In 1946, Fortas became a partner in a new Washington law firm, where he was known as a champion of civil liberties. President Lyndon B. Johnson named Fortas to the Court to fill the “Jewish seat” vacated by Arthur Goldberg. His long-term close advisory relationship with the president caused controversy when Johnson nominated Fortas to be chief justice in 1968. Johnson was accused of “packing the Court” and Fortas asked that his name be withdrawn. A charge that Fortas received illegal fees for teaching during the controversy was followed a year later by accusations of illegal activities with imprisoned financier Louis E. Wolfson. Although he declared his innocence, Fortas resigned from the Court in 1969. Since no Jews were on the Supreme Court for the next 24 years, many believe that the “Jewish seat” ended with his departure.  [return to top]

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933–)

Supreme Court term: 1993–

“I don’t think that I approach cases in a particular way because I am Jewish any more than I do because I’m a woman. I have certain sensitivities for both.”.  [return to top]

Stephen Breyer (1935–)

Supreme Court term: 1994–

“Here I am, absolutely Jewish. I am appointed to the Supreme Court and there is already another Jewish member...it’s the ideal...in terms of the place of Jews in public life, it’s neither a qualification nor a disqualification.”.  [return to top]