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Felix Frankfurter Quotes

Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Felix Frankfurter was a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Born on November 15, 1882, and passing away on February 22, 1965, Frankfurter is renowned for his contributions to law and constitutional interpretation. His decisions and opinions have had a profound impact on the American legal system.

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Famous Felix Frankfurter Quotes

“No court can make time stand still.”

Stills Court Making Time

Author:Felix Frankfurter

“There is torture of mind as well as body; the will is as much affected by fear as by force. And there comes a point where this Court should not be ignorant as judges of what we know as men.”

Knows Men Should Mind Wells Body Force Judging Court Ignorant Torture Affected

Author:Felix Frankfurter

“A court which yields to the popular will thereby licenses itself to practice despotism, for there can be no assurance that it will not, on another occasion, indulge its own will.”

Justice Practice Court Occasions Yield Assurance License Indulge Despotism Licenses

Author:Felix Frankfurter

“What becomes decisive to a Justice's functioning on the Court in the large area within which his individuality moves is his general attitude toward law, the habits of the mind that he has formed or is capable of unforming, his capacity for detachment, his temperament or training for putting his passion behind his judgment instead of in front of it. The attitudes and qualities which I am groping to characterize are ingredients of what compendiously might be called dominating humility.”

Source: Felix Frankfurter on the Supreme Court: extrajudicial essays on the Court and the Constitution

“One is entitled to say without qualification that the correlation between prior judicial experience and fitness for the Supreme Court is zero.”

Court Supreme Zero Entitled Supreme Court Judicial Qualifications Correlation

Author:Felix Frankfurter

About the Author

Born: November 15, 1882
Died: February 22, 1965
Known for: Former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Quotes: 83

Books & Sources

Felix Frankfurter on the Supreme Court: extrajudicial essays on the Court and the ConstitutionRelated source material

Essays in legal history in honor of Felix FrankfurterRelated source material

Proceedings in honor of Mr. Justice Frankfurter and distinguished alumni at the meeting of the Council, Harvard Law School Association in Cambridge, April 30, 1960Related source material

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