right here on c-span 3, online at c-span.org and streaming on the c-span radio app. next we'll continue our focus on the supreme court with talk about the eight jewish justice that served on the supreme court since 1816. this is about an hour and a half. >> signed by the delegates of the constitution is on display. and every day of the week thousands of people come to view it. many of them bend down to economic the parchment, some trying to read the 18th century script. the copseitution is the foundation of our government and the standard to which the supreme court of the united states looks when it decides to cases that come before it. the many supreme court case files both appellate and

original jurisdiction are here at the archives. as our opinions, docket books, minutes, attorney roles with our earliest records starting in -- we're working on a project to prepare all of these digital recordings for our online catalog and hope to have them available by september of this year. since its founding in 1934, the national archives has also hosted supreme court justices in person as well as in its records. and some of the justice we will discuss tonight have had close connections with this agency. in the 1950s, justice felix frankfurter serve on the historic records and national pubication. in the 1960s justice arthur goldberg served on the archivist

advisory council. including associate justice steven breyer, clarence thomas. yale law professor and constitutional scholar leads the discussion related to the constitution and the their impact of the american people. and those are available on youtube or ustream. now let's get to tonight's program. please welcome to the podium justice smith of the greater historical society of washington. [ applause ] >> thank you. good evening, everyone. and welcome. i am delighted of on behalf of

the jewish historical society to thank the national archives especially susan clifton for partnering with us on this annual program. we also want to thank the supreme court historical society and its staff for joining us in tonight's program. and a special thank you to dr. arnoeld, arnold, a long time friend who first suggested dr. dallen first come to us as a speaker. what a pair tonight. i want to welcome frank gilbert, a past president of the jewish historical society who's also the grandson of justice lewis grandice. thanks to his generosity we're excited to have in our collection -- as many of you may know the jewish historical

society is planning a new museum in washington as part of the capitol crossing development project, which is a few blocks from here. last november our historic 1876 synagogue was cut from its base and moved interest the second time in its life 50 feet in the middle of 3rd street northwest where it's going to remain until the third and final move to the newelry reopened corner of northwest, and there it will become our center piece. tonight's topic of jewish supreme court justices is one we plan to make a key element in the museum's exhibition and programming. tonight i have the honor of introducing our participants and thereby fulfilling society's mission of joining history,

current events and the promise of the future together to tell many stories of the jewish of washington. dr. david dallen, historian and rabbi is the author and coauthor of 11 books. co-authored with one of our prior panelists and the presence of the united states and the fews. his articles and book reviews have appeared in a variety of publications. doo tonight dr. dallen will talk about his published book, which many of you have in your hands which has already received excellent revie

excellent -- dr. dallen will be joined in conversation with seth waxner, who is himself a distinguished leader in washington and national legal communities. mr. waxman served as the 41st solicitor general of the united states from the 1997 until january 2001. after leaving government mr. wax lm taught both as a visiting fellow at the john f. kennedy visit president and at georgetown law center. he's argued 33 cases and has tried and argued dozens of other high profile complex civil and criminal cases in federal and state courts across the country. so now i'm sure after all that you're ready and i am, too. it's my pleasure to invite dr.

dallen and seth waxman to the stage. gentleman. [ applause ] >> it's so good to be here. >> good evening. i'm seth waxman. this is the guest of honor and the author rabbi david dallen. we couldn't hear any of the introduction because we were being held in a secure location, but the ruviews are terrific. it's already trending on twitter. before be start, let me just say i think i will -- i have about 4 1/2 hours worth of questions to ask you. but i'm going to limit myself to 45 minutes. and then assuming i can keep track of time, which i'm not

very good at, open it up for a audience questions. people are interested, they have particular questions and we have a great fountain of knowledge. i'm told if you have a question you should go to the aisles to the microphones. but i have to say i don't see any microphones. anyway, they will magically appear. so as you're thinking of questions and thinking about asking of questions, once i open it up and i forgot to tell you, please make your way to the mike because this program is being broadcast and in addition to the fact either one or both of us may not be able to hear you and your fellow attendees and people in the audience would like to hear what your question is. and i also want to make sure the previous speaker already told you this, there's a book signing ald following the program. and the author himself will be

available to answer questions and sign backs for you. so welcome. so professor dallen and i met yesterday. and we immediately went with the convention that we would refer to each other by first names. so let me just start by asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself and you are professional journey. i know your an ordained rabbi and you're an author of jewish and political history. >> i also want to thank you. i'm honored to have you for this conversation. i'm actually an ordained rabbi, but most of my work is a jewish historian. my biggest field of interest is

american jewish political history and biography. i'm written major articles not only about fews in the presidency but the presidential appointment process and the various presidents who have apoined fews and the relationship of this appointment process to the community. and through that, i became tremendously interested of the whole subject of jewish appointees to the supreme court and their lives and careers and jewish personas. many years ago i became fascinated with steve grandice. and i attended grandice along

with my daughter. and that led to the additional biographies of several people. and i gravitated more and more to jewish justesses. and after you read them, i thought it would be interesting -- there had never been a book -- this i think as i said before is not only the first history of jewish justice who have served in the past or currently served on supreme court but also a collective biography, as it were, of the jewish men and women who were served on the court. and that's been an abiding interest for many, many years. and i finally decided it was a choice between two things. i've also written about the use in baseball, which could be a

future work. but i finally decided on the use in justices. >> well, i'd be very happy to thrt view about your up coming use in baseball. use in squash, jews in polo -- >> i hasn't even thought about it. >> i'm sure you appreciate there may be a lot of surprises right here in the national archives. >> yes, in fact god willing if this book comes, i will come to the national archives. because i know a bit about use in baseball, a little about use in basketball but precious little about jews in polo or squash. this is great. >> so i have to say in talking

to people about the event and people asking about the event, one question that i get that i've gotten more frequently than i guess i would have anticipated, and this may be a generational thing because it is mainly from colleagues and professional friends who are significantly younger than i am, just so that everybody puts this in context, i'm 65. so you can be significantly younger than i am and still have had a successful career in the law. but one recurring question i've gotten even from people in my generation is there a reason to think about a group of justices as jewish justice? and the answer obviously in your mind is yes. so why don't you start by answering all those questions i've gotten? like why write about jewish

justices? >> i'll tell you why. before justice grandice was appointed in january 1960, before that appointment, it was unimaginable you would have a jewish justice on the court. i want to come back to the question in a minute about anti-semitism, the rise and decline of anti-semitism in the legal profession. but so many things were different then. it really would have truly been imaginable in grandice's day not one or two or three justices. from 2010 when elena kagen succeeded john paul stevens, who was the last protestant to the appointment now of neil gorsuch,

an apiepiscopalian, this kind o thing would have been unimaginable. and then eventually a catholic seat on the court and then an african-american seat on the court. and now there are three women on the court. and i think there will continue to be at least one or two women on the court. this brings, if i can, the whole question of how this came about and anti-semitism within the legal profession. and is it okay to address this as -- >> i'm going to ask you you decide whether to address it now. it certainly is something i want you to talk about. i was thinking about for those two or three people in the country who can't rattle off automatically who these sometimes mysterious eight

justices are, maybe it would help just by having you identify who they were, who they were nominated by, when they served and just a couple of sentences. i'm going of them. >> sure. sure. >> and what their, as your sub titles, their legacy is. i guess we may have to continue this discussion until tomorrow afternoon. >> oh. >> but why don't you start off by saying we know louis brandeis was. first one. let's go through the eight, particularly the ones who, you know, who have now passed away. >> okay. >> so that people in the audience understand the sort of landscape of what we're going to be talking about in addressing, among other things, the rise and fall of -- or ascendy and decline of antisemiticism in the country and in the legal profession in particular. >> wonderful. brandeis was appointed by woodrow wilson in january of

1916. it became a major issue of controversy in the wilson administration. he was facing a very tough re-election battle the following november against charles evans hughes, the former governor of new york, who actually resigned his supreme court seat to run against wilson. and by the way, if anyone wants to know, there are stories -- some are -- charles evans hughes went to sleep the night of november 1916 election thinking that he had won the election and wilson, assuming he had lost. ask they both woke up to the change in realities. now, the brandeis nomination and senate confirmation battle went on for four months. it was arguably the most contentious senate confirmation battle until the battle of robert bork in 1987.

and much of the controversy had to do, brandeis was considered one of the leading progressive reformers. he had been woodrow wilson's main economic advisor since wilson ran for election in 1912. and wilson had hoped to appoint him attorney general, but the af lanch of anti-semiitic opposition for stalled that. but wilson remained committed to appointing him and when is he nominated him, he per certificate veered and stood by him. now, maybe later on we can talk about the opposition -- most of the opposition was anti-semiitic in nature, not because of his role in what was called the people's attorney. but it was -- and wilson had one advantage, by the way, that president obama did not have when he nominated merritt garland last year. by the way, some of you may know

or most of may know that merritt garland would have been the ninth jewish justice on the court. wilson had a democratic senate, and there were several progressive republicans who crossed party lines so to speak to support brandeis. so that all helped. >> so let me just -- >> this is nas naturing, but i want to make sure that we at least in this introductory session we get through all eight of them. let's just give us the real bare bones thumbnail sketch. so he finally gets confirmed in 1916. >> 1916. >> and he serves until when. >> 23 years until 1939. and he succeeded -- well, first of all, benjamin car doze awas appointed with him in 1932 by herbert hoover. all, seven of the eight jewish justices were appointed by democratic presidents, but hoover was, of course, a

republican president. what's interesting was core doza was not only a lifelong democratic but had supported al smith against hoover publicly in the 1928 presidential election. so hoover transsended party allegiance and just to conclude, car doza was considered the preelm nent american jurist and judge not serving on the supreme court. and most historians and buy graphs -- hoover didn't have the greatest presidency in american history, and his appointment of car doza was considered one of his truly great acheechlts as president. so car doza dies. he had been ill when he came to washington. after six years in the court in 1938 and brandeis -- >> and we're going to come back to this, but i'm correct, am i not that for a brief period of time car doza, in an era of antisemiticism, car doza and

brandeis served on the supreme court together. >> simultaneously for six years. and by the way, putting aside the antisemiticism. in that era profoundly viciousel anti-semiitic justice, james mcreynolds. now, he had been outraged when brandeis was appointed. in fact, there's a famous photo of the supreme court in 1924 that lacks one justice, mcreynolds would not permit himself to be photographed near brandeis. and when hoover for mcreynolds -- had the awe das it to appoint another jew, he personally wrote a scathing letter to hoover pleading with him not to afflict the court with another hebrew. and when brandeis retired in 1939 there's a tradition that the members of the court all sign it's like a retirement letter which is framed for the retiring justice, and mcreynolds

refused to do so. so for six years there were two joous on the court. when in 1939 when car doza retired -- or actually, he had passed away, right after his retirement fdr, franklin dell nor roads svelte appointed his old friend and advisor fell eeks fran furtherer and for two weeks, by the way, frarng if you are terr served on the court together with bran diegs before brandeis officially retired. fran furtherer -- just briefly, fraj if you arer and fdr had met at a lurch at new york's harvard club in 1906. they were both recent law school graduates from very different background. both very ambitious politically. and their connection and friendship continued on again, off again for 33 years until fdr's appointment of gold -- of frank if you arer. >> okay. so we've got three so far by my

count. we've come up with three and we've had one anti-jewish justice. >> right. >> we got mcreynolds out of the way. >> and he retires in the 1940s with -- >> all right. i promise you we're coming back to all of these people except mcreynolds. >> of course. of course. >> but who is next? >> okay. next is -- so frank if you are terr passes away. >> frank if you are terr passes away in -- actually, retires in 1962. passes away in 1965 s. he by interesting to note, all the jewish justices were liberal justices by any definition. frank if you are terr had been a flaming liberal harvard law professor and attorney, but he became more and more conservative in his also 23 years on the court. and when he resigned in 1962, he was the most conservative member of the warren court, which -- and he became a profit or advocate of judicial restraint.

any way, john f. kennedy then appoints arthur gold berg to succeed frank if you are terr on the court. arthur gold berg is only one of the eight jewish justices to have served in the cabinet before. he had been -- he was probably the best known labor leader lawyer labor negotiator in the country. he had negotiated the merger of the afl ci o and president kennedy appointed him secretary of labor. and he served the shortest ten tour, less than three years on the court. and -- because -- >> we're going back to this for sure. >> lbj persuaded him to leave a lifetime position. he lived until 1991 to accept a position given at the pleasure of the president, ambassador to the united nations, during which time he had a falling out with lbj and he was out of the u.n. in two and a half years.

>> all right. so he's out. and who is in? >> he's in. okay. lbj's closest political advisor for many years, and ific just -- the genesis of their friendship, if i could do it in a minute or two? >> are we going to talk about landslide lynn done? >> land slide lynn done. this is great. this is a great story. 1948, for advertise and lyndon johnson had met in a new deal. he feels a new deal lawyer. who couldn't -- first in his class at yale law school. couldn't get a job in a major law firm because he was jewish. he worked on the new deal. he got to know a jung congressman from texas, lyndon johnson. 1948, in the election -- the fight of his lifetime, johnson dpaif up a safe congressional seat to run for the senate from texas. had he lost that race, we never would have heard of lip done johnson. in an amazingly -- >> are we sure he didn't lose that race? >> well, i'll come back to that.

in my book i document the fact that, well, there's a good argument that he did lose that race. which -- forth that you'll have to read the book. now, it was such a close race after a million 560 votes cast for thereabouts, it was sent to a blue ribbon committee of washington attorneys to investigate and, you know, the -- can and check about whether there was voter fraud. and well, we know there was a great deal of voter fraud. they personally chaired this committee and argued the case at the supreme court in favor of lyndon johnson was an young up and coming attorney by the name of a for tus and johnson never forgot this. throughout his years as majority leader of the senate in the 1950s and as vice president for tus was his closest advisor. he and his wife lady bird

socialized with abe for tus and his wife. and he always, always wanted to promote, so resip indicate and do something for his friend abe. despite the fact that abe for tus didn't want to, he turned down an offer to be attorney general and then his wife helped him turn down, which is a great story in the book, that and also johnson's nudging him and pressuring him to go on the court. the only way he could do that was to take an arthur gold berg off the court. so he decided there was then a tradition of the jewish seat on the court, which if you want, we'll talk about. so he basically on the way invites for tus to a meeting about something else. actually, vietnam policy, and he invites him to go out to the rose garden where he wants to just make some announcements at a press conference. on the way over there, much to for tus's anger and surprise, he

tells him that he's announcing his nomination to the supreme court. and by the way, arthur gold berg did not yet officially accepted his invitation to the u.n. so -- and basically,ic come back to it, he took -- had to take a 90% salary cut. in the 1950s, he and his wife were partners in a major law firm that bore then for tus's name, they had a combined income in the 1950's of $4 hundred,000. his wife who you'll learn about more in the book had 150 pairs of shoes in one closet and they -- >> can i just -- this is all really interesting. but unless i'm wrong, abe for tus actually didn't serve very long on tht supreme court. >> no and in any event, we seem to be sort of stuck on the fifth justice. >> we want to go to -- >> i have a whole like book of

questions to ask you, so -- >> and also -- and tomorrow afternoon i've got a flight to catch so i can't stay until then. okay. so any way, we'll talk about afterwards in what became the biggest scandal of a jewish justice, abe for tus eventually resigned the court in 1969. and by the way, he served a few months longer that be arthur gold berg. and in that case richard nixon appointed harry black man to the court. so it was a prot stant which ended the tradition of a so-called jewish seat. now, it would take 24 years before another jew would be appointed to the court. in the interim -- i'm trying to think who reagan nominated. >> many people. >> many people. yes, many people. but after robtd bork, oh, another ginsberg. douglas ginsberg, who had to

withdraw his candidacy when it was revealed that he had smoked marijuana, not only while a lawsuit but also while a law professor at harvard. any way. >> shocking no one, but scandalizing the political establishment. >> and especially the reagan family and reagan's vifrz. so we wait a few more years. in 1994 bill clinton appoints ruth bader ginsburg to the court and a year later steven briar to the court. these were the only supreme court appointments that bill clinton had. he appointed two jews. now, none of these -- they and alana kagan thereafter did not confront any antisemiticism either on the acents to their legal careers to the court or their religion was not mentioned in the hearings at all. the confirmation hearings. ruth bader ginsburg who we could

talk about later did face a lot of obstacles being a woman in a legal profession that was still predominantly male. when she entered harvard law school in 1956, she was only one of nine students in a class of over 500, and there's a lot to talk about here, but i won't get carried away now. she became, of course, the first -- the second woman after sandra day o'connor and the first jewish woman on the court. now, a year later, steven briar, who i'm proud to say -- is a fellow lons man from san francisco, the only san francisco -- i think the only san franciscoen because technically he didn't live in san francisco. but any way, and he is appointed, and both of them still serve on the court today. they're considered pretty much part of a liberal block on the court. and ruth bader ginsburg, who

just turned 84, has now surpassed brandeis and frank if you are terr by a few months in terms of longevity of jewish justices on the court. steven brieier had a very interesting -- i'll talk about other things but just to say that he served in the 1980s away from harvard law school as the chief counsel of the senate judiciary committee. both he and ruth bader ginsburg were known as voices for, you know, con vif although on the court. he got along with everyone. as counsel for the judiciary committee, he was able to get along famously with the late ted kennedy on the one hand, the leading democrat and orrin hatch on the other hand. kennedy and orrin hatch agreed on not many things. they also were close personal friends, but they agreed on their admiration and respect for steve briar.

when he was nominated the last days of jimmy carter's administration to the federal bench, they came together to finesse his nomination. and then 14 years later, as many people said, anyone who could get along so wonderfully and so closely with both orrin hatch and ted kennedy must have been doing something right. >> okay. so drum roll, please, to alana kagan so we get through the introduction portion. >> okay. and alana kagan, who was a graduate of princeton university and harvard law school was also a marshall skorl at oxford university, as was steven briar, started out working in the clinton administration on the domestic policy staff. she then became the first woman dean and the first jewish woman dean of harvard law school. and then she followed the distinguished staff --

>> i guess if she was the first woman dean -- >> probably would also qualify. >> that was a little redundant on my part. i was just going to say she followed in the great stems of my interlocutory here. she became the next jewish solicitor general in 2009 and the fist -- this case the first woman solicitor general. and i guess the fourth jewish solicitor general you told me. and then a year later president obama appointed her to the supreme dort. and by the way, one of the efforts of presidents when they appoint justices is to appoint hopefully younger justices who with good health may seb 30 years. she was the exact same age 49 going on to 50 as neil gorsuch was. >> that's the golden era to get nominated. >> that's right. but now i think i've exhausted the litany, exempt, of course, if we have time about merritt

garland, who did not quite make it to the court. >> yeah. well, i mean, we're talking about leg's and history here, and i think you'll agree as an historian that it is perhaps a little premature to talk about the leg's of the sitting justices. >> i think you're right. >> so while i do have some questions for you about the sitting justices, they are in the process says of writing their own leg's, and i'm going to focus a lot in my remaining 20 minutes before opening it up to the audience, i guess that gives me about 17 minutes to get to my concluding remarks. look, i want to ask you some things about some of these justices in particular and have you share with the audience. >> sure, sure. >> some of your learning about them. but i need to have you -- when we talk about these people as jewish justices, we are using the convention here that they were born to jewish mothers. >> yes. >> correct? >> that's all correct. >> to what extent are we talking about people for whom jewish

observance, jewish spirituality and jewish belief was a significant, amend to you to be a significant aspect of their lives? >> okay. >> up to the time that they served on the court and while they were serving on the court, because, you know, they're jewish because they had a jewish mother, but i think a lot of people want to know, the lead up to the question, to what extent their jewish faith, their jewish beliefs, their cultural judism may or may not have affected or influenced who they were as people and how they performed as judges. >> with the similar exceptions of justice car doza who came from a very religious family and justice gold berg, who was very active jewish community and by the way had an annual pass over here that was the talk of

washington. >> which really fair to say was more like a labor movement revival meeting than a say terr. >> was indeed. in fact, a per enal guest of the say terr was george meany -- >> rof george meany. >> who regald the sard dinner and audio yen with irish songs, with irish folk songs. and by the way, gold berg's wife dorothy regald with yidish songs. but i'll come back later on one interesting anecdote. but your question is we will taken. there was not -- most of the jewish justices were not really practicing religious jews. ask it starred with brandeis. it's interesting. he came from a family, he grew up in lieuville, kentucky. his parents were german speaking jews from practicing prag.

he was raised almost as a christian. his mother was said to admire the ethics of all rjz and the rit wallace and observances of none. and in their home they never celebrated the jewish sabbath or christ mass. hanukkah, rather but christmas and brandeis continued in this tradition. and if i could tell just two very short but quick anecdotes as an example. hopefully short. >> we don't want to give away the whole book, but yeah. >> maybe i'll tell you one of them rather than two. brandeis was a prolific letter writer. there are many volumes of his letters. 1900 his two young daughters were on vacation in the days before christmas in new york visiting relatives. brandeis wrote a letter to them saying please don't worry, the christmas tree is set up, and santa clause will be here to greet you. the other thing which i always find is fascinating is he was

very close to his brother alfred, who remained in lieuville. now, every month or six weeks his cousin alfred would send them a ham from louisville. now, my question was there were no happens in boston? but there would be these wonderful notes from brandeis saying thank you, we're overjoyed the brandeis household is overjoyed here. we just received your ham today, et cetera. now, he -- >> i want to come back after we get done with the yidish kite of all of the justices or at least the none sitting justices. i want to get back to zblienism and there's a tremendous interesting story here. >> yeah. >> but so -- >> zblienism. >> no. core doze oh. >> core doze oh. okay. core doze oh is descend ds from one of the most -- probably the preelm nent sef on theic jewish family in america. he was a direct descend ent of

ger shan men did he say gracious who may not ring a bell for you, but he was the only rabbi officiating at george washington's giving an invocation. there were 14 cler gri at his inauguration in 1790. men did he sashs had been the first jew ever appointed to the board of governors of columbia university at the recommendation of alexander hamilton and not until benjamin core doze oh would another jew be appointed. his came -- one of his cousins of the, the deputy mayor of new york. >> so we know -- this is an appropriate term for a sef ar particular jew, but we know about his i didn't care i say. >> his i didn't care us. >> but what about his beliefs, his practices. >> well, he too, when he -- he belonged to what's the spanish

portuguese synagogue in new york, which is the oldest continuing synagogue in the united states. he belonged, kept a ticket and when he was in new york he occasional went on the high holidays. he always kept -- there was a seat that he was -- in his honor. he very rarely attended services there. he feels bar mitts vad there. but he for the most part, unlike brandeis, who served, you know, i would say brought trays of food always, core doza would never serve pork or she will fish in his home. and by the way, a little taken aback when on his first invitation to the brandeis home when he came to washington, that's what brandeis served. but he -- >> fair to say that didn't all go well for a close relationship between the two on the court. >> and i think that's an understatement, yes. on the court or off the court.

but he remained always affiliated -- when he died, the memorial service was at the cher iv israel with the spanish portuguese. he remained a none practicing orthodox jew. if and when he went to a synagogue, it had to be an orthodox synagogue and his closest friend in the world was irving lehman of lehman brothers. the older brother of herbert lehman, the governor and senator from new york. and when brandeis -- when core doze oh died, he was -- died at the lee manslaughter mansion and they took care of him, he and his wife sally in his last weeks. they were so shocked when they went -- they had the funeral at sheriff israel because one of core doze a's closest friends was steven wise, one of the great zblienist leaders in

america and the preelm nint rabbis in america, but steven wise was a reformed rabbi and the leaders of sheriff israel would not permit him to oh fish 80 in any way or even to give a u lolg and that shocked irving lehman who was a very committed reformed jew, the president of temple emanual and even his close friends didn't realize how orthodox jew is he really was or was not because he never practiced his orthodox judism. >> okay. so felix frank if you are terr. >> this is interesting gloo born in the old country. comes to the united states at age 12 not knowing one world of english. bar mitts vad. >> gds to aee shee va. >> for a while. >> in med sty because they thought it was the safest school for him. then what happened. >> at the age of 15 he decides judism is not for him. he becomes a self-proclaimed

agnostic. he goes to city college, then harvard law school, where he's at the top of his class. by the way, i have the first published photograph of him at his harvard law school dorm in the book. but he wanted very much to become part of the prot stant elite in the country. he married the daughter of a prot stant minister. his mother did not attend the wedding. he never set foot in a temple or synagogue in his adult life except to give an occasional lecture. but here is the par docks. in his will to the surprise and shock even to his prot stant wife wife and most of his friends he asked that the traditional jewish prayer of mourning be recited at his funeral. >> by. >> by he specified lewis hen con. it was one of his favorite law clerks. was not only a practicing orthodox jew but the son of one

of the preelm nent olt docks rabbis in america. fran if you are terr the agnostic admired hen -- >> preelm nent legal skorl until this day. >> who for 40 years was a law professor at columbia university. and you may know better, i think one of the great authorities on international law. >> correct. >> he at one point had been a consultant to the state department. and frank if you are terr remained close to him. in fact, he always said he was his one friend who was a practicing orthodox jew. >> so frank if you are terr, you know, very jewish until 15. >> yeah. >> casts it all off. becomes jewish again oot his funeral. >> and says to another friend, shortly before his death, he says, well, you know, i was born jewish. most of my life i did not live as a jew, but i want to die as a jew. >> okay. so so much for jewish influence during his 23 years on the court. >> right. >> okay. so we're up to justice gold

berg. >> justice gold berg. >> who was -- you know, did belong to a synagogue his whole life. >> yeah. >> who else? >> okay. he was an early zblienist. we'll come back to it. in fact, he and his wife were close friends of gold amie year. they lived in chicago. she was in milwaukee. as teenagers in the zblienist movement. he grew up in chicago, was first in his class at northwestern university. couldn't get a job in one of the big law firms, but got a job the small -- what was then a small jewish law firm that founded by the two prits ger brothers. now, if this name sounds familiar, they're the prits ger family that eventually started and still owns the hyatt hotel chain. >> can we just get back to the spirituality. >> oh, the spirituality. yes. yes. yes. i'm going to take my watch out to remind me. okay of the spirituality was

interesting. he was a much more jewish jew than any of the other justices. >> sounds like it wasn't saying very much. >> it wasn't saying very much. truly. i'll give you one example and then one great anecdote. when he used to have -- he didn't keep kosher, the dietary laws. but whether he sponsored these great sards, he'd insist if any of his law clerks absorbed kos route he'd make them strictly kosher. and one of the years alan desh oh wits who mr. of you know of was strictly then a strictly orthodox jew, so for this he had the best kosher indicatorer in washington indicator a very expensive kosher sard and by the way, on his supreme court letterhead he wrote out the gold berg family recipe for ka rose as, the traditional pass over dish, which was sent to the

kosher indicatorer, a copy of which is one of the photos in my book. but he was spiritually, he was a jewish jew and as was his wife. and i want -- one quick appear he can dottie. it will be very quick, i hope. >> you know, we're not -- it's five minutes to eight and we're not even up to for tus yet on yid dish kite. >> just on yid dish kite. he always told the story of visiting his -- while he was secretary of labor his elderly jewish mother in chicago. and while he was over sleeping one day and just kind of half awake the phone rings and his mother asks who is this? and it's president kennedy. so he answers the president. so she says the president? new of which -- >> okay. just a word or two about the

yidish kite of justice for tus and then i'm going to you ask to reflect again on my question of so why are we talking about jewish justices. the extent, if any to which, and i know you're not a lawyer or a legal skorl. in your research you were able to discern any impact on the jur i say prudence of these people of the enact that they were at least born jewish. >> okay. >> first for tus. >> for tus. okay, like frank if you are terr was born into an ort dock family. he grew up in memphis, tennessee. he also pretty much cut his ties with orthodoxy in high school and continued to be really indifferent to anything in jewish religious practice or tradition. he is also his wife was not

jewish and she was not particularly interested in judism at all, and she continued this this -- you know, pushed him in that direction. he was the first in his class at yale law school. by the way, the same legend has it that while brandeis was first in his class at sclol 'ically at harvard a sclosic ample that's never been met since they said the same thing about for tus. his mentor was william douglas who later was on the court. he also couldn't get a job in a law firm in a big city blue chip law firm, blue shoe law firm, so he went to work in the new deal. and of course, as i said before, that's what he meets lbj. he eventually forms a new law firm in washington -- what is the first thing? >> arnold for tus and potter. >> which is today arnold and

potter, which i made mention about at the end. okay. his wife eventually -- he's a tax specialist, becomes a partner in the same firm. they have a combined salary in the 1950s of over 400 thouds. he would have to take a 90% salary cut to join the court. they dove -- >> so was he going to shul? >> never. never go to shul. >> and his wife skournld him tremendously in that area. although when he visited they never had children. his jewish nephews and nieces in memphis, he talked -- they told him about what it was like to live a jewish life, which he knew very little about. exempt for one -- can i say one thing? he was very proisrael. his closest friend in washington for many years was the former israel ambassador to the united states, later president of the

hebrew university. >> some of his best friends were jewish. >> some of his best friends were jewish. you know, i should have put that in the book. >> maybe the answer to this question is obvious since the justices that we've talked about so far, that none of them -- either they had no jewish upbringing as in the case of louis brandeis or they had a jewish upbringing which they for sook largely in the case of the others. >> yeah. >> i wouldn't say that -- it's probably not fair to say about core doze oh. he just became indifferent in observant. unlike fraj if you are terror for tus, you you know, which was just a categorical object jekz, this is a disability of my birth that i'm going to try to overcome. >> frank if you are terr actually said it was an accident at birth. >> is it fair to say that it's hard to discern an effect of their judism on their juris

prudence. >> i think it is fair to say. by the way, with one very quick caveat because i know mr. gilbert, the grandson of justice brandeis is here. when his parents, i guess, when they had children and when justice brandeis in the late 20s and 30s had jewish grandchildren, then he began to write cards to them for rash ashanna and for han kau and that was a jewish influence later in life. but no, i think it's fair to say that the judism had very little, if anything, impact on their juris prudence, on their judicial opinions. even in the case of core doze oh. and this -- the one thing it did do, which is a legacy of both brandeis and frank if you are terr, for the first time they appointed jewish law clerks and

that became something -- it wasn't out of religion os it and some of the law clerks were much more religious. but i think it's fair to say with possibly one exception that with frank if you are terr that was negative, actually, that their jewishness or jewish background had no effect on their juris prudence. one or exception, gold berg on church state issues, gold berg's jewish background did have some influence on his opinions. >> so i think -- you know, a couple things more about justice brandeis. you know, you talk about this in your book, but justice brandeis had an uncle. >> yes. >> with whom he was very close. >> yeah. >> close enough to take his middle name. >> middle name. yeah. >> who was very, very observant. >> right.

>> and do you want to talk about that just a little bit? >> sure. his uncle, his name was lewis denim wits and brandeis eventually changed his middle name from david to denim vits in honor of his uncle. his uncle in lieuville was one of the lierds of the orthodox jewish community. he was a jewish sclorl who actually published a couple of books on the the bible with the jewish publication society. brandeis recalled in his letters very merlably the only expose to her to traditional shall be bat dinners would be at his you think alley's home. but he didn't -- it was his uncle who inspired him to pursue a career in the law. his uncle was also a fer vent an ligsist. his uncle named two of his sons an ham lincoln denim wits and henry clay denim vits.

now, also, his uncle was one of the founders of the republican party. that's the party of lincoln and the an oh ligsists in kentucky and was one of the three people who put lincoln's name in nomination at the 1860 republican convention. but there was a very great closeness between the two. and it was his uncle's legal scholarship also that inspired brandeis. but his religion os it and his religious practice did not. and he somehow separated the two. >> so on the, you know -- let's turn, you know, now for a few minutes to zblienism because, you know, any biography of -- zplienism is an important theme, i think, with the justices that we've been talking about. >> sure. sure. >> and, you know, none more than louis brandeis who of course was the president of the american

jewish zblienist movement. >> today the organization, yeah. >> and your book recounts at one point actually contemplating resigning his supreme court seat in order to assume leadership of the world zplienist organization. >> exactly. this is the hundred death anniversary of the bell foi -- it wasn't really extra judicial activity, pushing and persuading woodrow wilson and the wilson administration to support the balance fray deck rargs. >> so how do you explain somebody that we have somebody who was ragsd in a rez lutel secular family in kentucky, you know, the son of a zend ent of the german jewish immigration, living in a community, you know, very unlike the sort of existence that frank if you are terr came out of and moved into

in bed ford stooif san antonio and the lower east side. when does he, quote, discover zblienism and what does zblien simple have to do with lewis brandeis' per seasona and beliefs. >> the first 50 years of his life he had no jewish connection ought all. he lived in areas that there were no jewish neighbors. he had one or two jewish friends. the genesis of this which i talk a lot about in my book, he was invited in to be one of the negotiate orsz of the gar meant workers strike in new york in 1910. for the first time in his life he met east european jaws and he found an infinity with them, which he talks about, these were jews. his other jewish friends had always been very assimilated german jews. and all of a sudden it swhau struck a cord with him. and these were yidish speaking

jews. of course, he knew no yidish. and he became interested from that sperps in zblienism. and some of the people he mentioned there are henry months cowits who later played a role in the senate confirmation battle is, who was a leading political figure in new york at the time. and others who came from more traditional backgrounds. and jacob did he has, who had been theodore hertz el, the founder of political zblienism's first basically representative in the united states, they told him more and more about zblienism. they also told him more and more that he different know about his uncle denim vits, who was a profound zplienist leader and the early zblienist leader. so -- and as time went on, he began -- he was jewishel almost ill literally. he began to read more and more about judism.

and he began to find a tremendous link between zblienism and americanism. and that was the key for him. and i forget -- i just wish i knew the exact phrase, but his famous phrase at one point was that to be -- what is it? to be a befrt american -- >>ic remember the phrase. >> you can remember it. please clue me on in. >> to be a great american you first have to be a great jew and to be a great jew you have to be a zblienist. which is a perplexing set of -- >> to say the least. >> propositions. >> it is. >> and probably amazing to the vast majority of americans who not only don't feel that they need to be a great jew to be american but don't have the tools to became a great jew in any event. >> and like he didn't before, and he -- it created a lot of tension because so many jewish

leaders didn't feel the same way. but once he became involved, it became his passion. also, he brought some wealthy german friends, the "washington post" family and abraham fie lean, fie lean's basement and others. he brought them into the zblienist movement, also fee sliks fran if you are terr, and by the way, it should be noted, a footnote, binge minimum core doza oh fisht yatd at felix frank if you are terr's wedding. but brandeis was a car i say matic speaker and he -- and close to wilson. he barn stormed the country in support of zplienism and he made zblienism respectable amongst christians as well as, jews. in fact, i must -- >> okay. i'm going to give you the hook

because i need to ask you to tell us one thing about frank if you are terr and i'm giving myself the hook in two minutes. so people in the audience get ready with your questions. >> well, several -- >>ic pass around all of the unasked questions that i have if anybody flags. but frapg if you are terr -- let me just just so summarize my understanding of it. so while frank if you are terr in many ways was a protoe jay of. >> brandeis. >> brandeis. very, very different as a personality. >> yes. >> very, very different in background. but was actually for many many years actually paid by brandeis. >> yes. >> to write and publish as a very progressive public splekt wal. >> yeah. >> and deputized by brandeis to get involved and promote zblienist movement. and the book row counts a fascinating story in which frank if you are terr negotiates a

letter from the then king of saudi arabia saying that, you know, arabs favor the balance for deck rargs and favor the creation of a jewish homeland, for which frank if you are terr took an out sized amount of credit, for whatever value it has. but is it fair to say that frank if you are terr's devotion to zblienism was more in the nature of an assignment. >> yes, very much so. >> okay. i'd like you to -- frank if you are terr was -- both brandeis and frank if you are terr and for advertise for that matter and gold berg -- your book recounts beautifully how unbelievably tied in they were to the administrations of the presidents that appointed them and probably no one more profoundly and sbeg really as felix frank if you are terr. i mean, given the long scope of fdr's ten tour.

>> sure. sure. >> i mean, you can say that probably no more profoundly who seemed to spend more time in the white house and the national security counsel than in the supreme court to the point that his law clerks felt free to take naps in the supreme court because they felt insure auto he wasn't going to show up. >> actually, it was abe for tus who drafted lbj's 1966 state of the union address. >> okay. and so, i mean, there's no reason to think that, is there, that felix frank if you are terr had an overwhelming degree of influence, both over fdr and over frank if you are terr's own many proet jaz in the administration? i'd just like before we open it up to questions, i'd like you to recount for us the episode you describe in connection with the

hall cost ofian cars ski, who he was, what he discovered, and what he did with it in washington, particularly with respect to frank if you are terr, because something i did not know and i find amazing. >> certainly. you know, yawn kos ski some of you may know of because i think taught for many years at georgetown in his later years. he was the first and was a representative of the polish government in exile. he had been -- he had gotten into the aush wits death camp and realized in secret what was being done there. he then became the emissary to tell the western world what was happening in the hall cost. and he comes to the united states at the end of 1942 and with a report that he wrote, but also his firsthand account of what was happening in the final

solution. now, first he meets -- he is told frank if you are terr is a very close friend of the polish ambassador to the united states. so he tells yawn kos ski you have to meet with justice frank if you are terr who was of course jewish. so yawn kos ski tells him in documented detail about the horrors that he's witnessed firsthand and about the nats jazz war against the joous and after speak r for half an hour, frank if you arer gets up, he was always very formal and he said, sir, i cannot believe what you're saying. and yawn kos ski said well, mr. justice, i wouldn't lie to you. i wouldn't -- he said no, no. you misunderstand me. i said i cannot believe that in my -- in this twentieth sentry that something as horrible as you're saying is actually taking

place. he then turns his back on kos ski and walks out. kos ski then -- and the polish ambassador asked him to set up a meeting with fdr to convey this. frank if you are terr basically meets with fdr before and tells him that, well, he himself cannot believe that something like this is taking place. now, what's incredible about this, frank if you are terr never loebz fdr. one might have been expected that frank if you are terr, who used to lobby the president on a whole host of issues, including appointing some of his students to federal judge ships. in fact, he had a several year long campaign to appoint learn ard hand to the supreme court. he used to call fdr at night even. when it came to the hol cast, he did nothing. in fact, he had an elderly uncle who was his favorite uncle, so will men frank if you are terr was arrested by the that the

zbli police in austria in convenient that and was held a prisoner for several days. one would have expected, then, frank if you are terr to go to the president and say, please, do something to help my uncle. my favorite uncle. he didn't. instead, he went through an interesting connection, even more so, talking with lady 'or in england who he knew was a friend. one last thing. he was a proet jay of henry stim son who was then the secretary of war offer state? >> war. >> war. his neighbor, close friend was john mccorey the deputy secretary of war. he walked to work with john mccoy almost every day. he was the war department official responsible for vee together war department proposal

to bomb aush wets, the death camp in the railroad's tour. he would see mccoy every day and talk to him. he never tried to persuade mccoy to change that. >> this was -- if i'm correct, this was at a point in time in which allied bombers were bombing the industrial sections of aush wits. >> precisely. within five minutes of aush wits. but actually, the industrial section of aush wits itself, it would have -- this was in late 1944 when there were still 75,000 gatherian jews who were to be deported to aush wits in the months before the end of the war. had they bombed even the railroads to aush wits, not the death camp, it would of slowed up the nazy process of murder by many, many months. but mccloi successfully vetoed this and felix frank fir terr as far as we know never did a thing

to try to dissuade him or his good friend henry stit son. >> okay. we're throwing it open to the audience and we have a member of the audience who has been sitting patiently by the assigned microphone. sir, it you could just identify yourself and let us know what your question is. >> i'm rashad thomas. i have two questions. so my first question is did any of the justices encounter antisemiticism after they became supreme court justices? number one. and number two, is there something distinctive about their jewishness that contributed to by and large their liberalism? i think most of the justices would have been jews on the court are left of center nir philosophy? so does their jewishness play a role in that? thank you. >> well, the first question first, which is easy, only brandeis and core doze oh and the antisemiticism they faced while on the court was from justice mcreynolds, who was a vocal anti-semiiet.

once they were secure on the court, they didn't face it. many of the -- they were all liberals, even frank if you are terr when he started out, and they -- ruth bard ginls berg has written about this attributing her support for social justice and for so many liberals associate and economic issues to her jup wish background and to the judism that she incull indicated. in this article she said that me and so many of my colleagues are zended from rabbis and we've incull indicated this. the problem with -- and ruth bader ginsburg is an exception. she's been more jewishel involved. many of the jewish juts, for example, like brandeis and like -- well, let's take brandeis and fran if you are terr even in his early days didn't know enough about judism to realize that their predisposition for social justice and for helping the

poor, et cetera, was coming from a tradition that they really didn't understand. so that's kind of -- but they were all nominated by liberal democratic presidents, with the exception of core doze oh. but most of the it attributed -- most people have attributed, including ruth bader ginsburg has written about this that their liberalism came from almost their dna, that they were all descended, not all but most of them were descended from very strongly religious families. and by the way, a footnote on ruth bader ginsburg. at the age of 15, i have a photo in the book, she was the camp rabbi at her -- she was known as that at her summer camp in the add iron docks. >> yes, sir. >> thank you very much for your words today. i am a college student here in the washington d.c. area.

my name is nathan wise her. >> okay. >> i have been deeply interested in jewish history for several years. actually, since i was in elementary school, and your book is one of the most meaningful books that i have read in a long time. i've read it cover to cover. >> oh, thank you so much. >> you're very welcome. my question is throughout your research what did you find most interesting about learning about justice gold berg's efforts to and advocacy for ending the death penalty and what do you think -- >> oh, that's interesting. and that may be derivative of his jewish background. arthur gold berg, with the assistance of alan dev oh wits, his law clerk at the time, he went on a campaign -- he tried to get a campaign going to render the death penalty

unconstitutional. the problem was had he not resigned from the court when he did, he might have achieved this himself. by the time the first death penalty cases came out and some of them -- there was really attacking the constitutionality of the death penalty, it was in the 19 # 70s when he had been off the court. but he and alan dev wits wrote a famous law review article in 1969 about rendering the death penalty unconstitutional. and that, i would say, was one area where his -- and he was probably still the most knowledgeable in terms of jewish religious tradition. and that came, i think, from his jewish -- his understanding of what then was not called tee could you notice lamb, and of

jewish values. >> thank you. sir. >> my name is shelly gilman. i live in lieuville, kentucky. i beg to disagree with you slightly. lewis brandeis's entire family lived within you can with aing distance of congress gags con he is ka israel and the entire jewish community. he lived in a central area of louisville, which was very open at that time. >> yeah. yeah. >> to german jews and especially polish jews. now, turning to your -- i'd like to present a slightly different perspective on this rabbi. when i studied the tal met and i perceived the obligations of a jew to the treatment of employees, to the treatment of the relationships of other people, and i read the decisions of justice brandeis as to how you treat your employees and

then when i look at justice car doze oh, not necessarily when he was on the supreme court, but when i looked at his decisions on the court of appeals of new york and i see malman case, the requirement of honor among partners and the relationship of partners, and then i see the fallsgraf case of proximate cause, you know, what do these things result from? these all stem from talmudic lessons of how we have contractual relations, commercial relationships. so i can draw a relationship to the understanding of jewish law to our civil law. >> yeah. >> your comment, rabbi? >> okay. i think there definitely is a relationship in the case of cardozo, who did although he was not a practicing orthodox jew,

who did have a significant understanding of jewish tradition, talmudic precedence and tradition. brandeis didn't have that jewish knowledge and education. now, he later became very interested in judaism, but i'm not sure if one can draw a connection between his decisions in those areas and his -- maybe they had been inculcated subconsciously, but he did not have the knowledge or understanding of jewish teachings and biblical teachings that cardoza did. although cardoza did not set foot in the synagogue, but he had the jewish knowledge. that would be the only thing. brandeis did, you're right, on those decisions and because he was a progressive reformer also.

he was one of the leading, you know, progressive voices in america at that point. >> brian dodge's name stays alive with the university of louisville's law school, the louis brandeis law school. >> which is wonderful. it really is. that was changed, i guess, in the past 20 or 30 years. >> okay. we have one from the left, now we get one from the right. >> rabbi, my name is jonathan galob, the class of 1985 brandeis university as well. i guess we're alumsman in a different way. actually, i'm on my way to another venue less than a mile away to breet my brandeis cohorts dressed in green and white instead of red, white and blue like our home team here. that's another discussion. maybe you can write a book on the influence on the american culture of basketball.

but my question are as follow. president wilson -- there was actually a program just put together, a show i should say was put together some time ago by the famous author -- the name escapes me right now. it will come to me. anyway, it was a three-part series about world war i and it focused a lot on wilson, and it had emphasis on unfortunately some aspects of his racism, his anti-semitism and his small-mindness the way he approached certain things. i think he was from virginia, if i'm not mistaken. wilson, not brandeis. the first part is really what drove him -- i mean from everything you have learned about him, to sort of move beyond that way that he thought, small-mindedness which is

actually exemplified in the show which is why he was so emphatic, meaning wilson, and if congress wouldn't pass it the way he wanted he didn't want it done at all. it was unfortunate, but to allow brandeis to become the supreme court justice. the second part is -- excuse me. has to do with pauls graff as mentioned over there. what injurijuris prudence did t add? >> i may defer to my son in the audience, who is a law suetuden and a brilliant one. >> i think it is fair to say -- >> scanning the audience, i think it is fair to say it would be more challenging to pick somebody here without legal training than with legal training. >> that's right, like myself. let me ask you as to the other question. one of the ironies is we know now woodrow wilson was a racist.

we know now that he reintroduced segregation into the capital, into the nation. on the other hand, he was in his own way -- when he was president he appointed the first jewish faculty member at princeton. when he was governor of new jersey before he ran for president, he appointed the first new jersey supreme court state justice. besides brandeis, he didn't abandon him after. he appointed several jews, one of his close advisers, to -- i'm trying to -- the whole federal reserve system was the brain child of one of the wahlbergs who was a close adviser and he had many jewish advisors. there's no record of his being anti-semitic, but there is certainly a growing record, as some of you may have followed at princeton university. there was an effort now to take off the wilson name from the

woodrow wilson school of international affairs, et cetera. but that's -- that would be my answer, and it seems to be a paradox that he really was not anti-semitic from any record that we have, but he was, you know, certainly a southern racist. >> yes. last question from the left, and we will -- >> my friends are -- >> rabbi, you talked a lot about harvard law school. >> identify yourself. >> yes. i'm timmy troy. you talked about harvard and yale law schools, and we know all of the supreme court justices right now graduated from either harvard or yale. can you state that any of these jewish justices did not go to one of these elite law schools, and can you talk about the role of elite law schools in kind of normalizing or kosherizing these justices so it is okay they are on the supreme court? >> what is interesting, of course -- i just menti

mentioned garland, he would be the ninth justice to have gone to harvard or yale law school is what the media mentioned. brandeis, harvard law school. cardoza went to columbia, a fairly good law school might i say. frankfurter, top of his class at harvard law school. gold ber goldberg went to northwestern, a good law school. not officially ivy league but a tremendously good law school. fortis went to yale. ruth bader ginsburg went to harvard and yale. when her husband moved to new york to get a job, she went to columbia.

she is only one of the two women in history who was on the columbia and harvard lar review. stephen breyer went to stanford as an undergraduate and harvard law school. elena kagan went to princeton and harvard law school. it does say a part of the culturization was that once again the decline of anti-semitism in the legal profession, it was lawrence, if you read about him in my book, led the anti-semitic opposition, the president of harvard, to brandeis' appointment and he later achieved more notoriety trying to introduce a quota on jewish admissions to harvard in the 1920s. but it was through these jewish students who grew up -- frankfurter, fortis and goldberg

were first members of their family to go to college. then went from to all of these very prestigious law schools. so it was part of the greater acceptance in the -- in the law schools that helped the -- change -- helped bring about a decrease of anti-semitism in the legal profession. just to end this on one story that's very interesting i think, when brandeis's daughter -- and i believe it is mr. gilbert's mother -- graduated at the top of her class at lindmar, brandeis was very interested, and she had hoped -- at least it is the story i'm told -- to have gone to harvard, yale or columbia. the problem was in 1917 there were no women yet admitted, and each of the deens saans said th would love to admit her, but it would be another ten years before they would admit women. so she went to not a bad law school, the university of

chicago, where she met her husband, another law student. but i think it is what you said. as the decline of -- there was a gradual decline of anti-semitism in the american legal profession, and it was fostered in part by so many of these lawyers who were either immigrants themselves or the children of immigrants, whose parents had never gone to college, going to the elite, the top, elite law schools in the country and doing well there, and therein having distinguished legal careers deriving from that. >> thank you all very much. you've been a great audience. [ applause ] . professor kaceci

has c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979 c-span was created as a public service by america's cable television services and is brought to you today by your cable or satellite provider. every week in the clinton white house there was something. it was a very tense environment. and then we -- we had a special prosecutor, i don't know if you remember a guy named ken starr. he was like the boogie man back then. it was like a fly over quest for this. i spent more time in that white house responding to foia requests than doing anything else. boy, i remember those foias and going through every document, trying to find that thing that ken starr wanted that week. and so, you know, coming in now,

i actually get to do my job. >> watching our interview with omarosa manigault, white house office of public liaison friday at 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. next on c-span3, we continue our focus on the supreme court with an episode from our landmark cases series on presidential powers and the jewish justices of the supreme court. we start with youngstown sheet and tube v sawyer. the 1952 case limited the power of the president to seize property when the court ruled 6-3 that president truman lacked the authority to seize steel plants in order to avert a labor strike in the midst of the korean war. >> all persons having business before the honorable, the supreme court of the united states, are admonished to draw near and give their