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Harlan F. Stone

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Article Genealogy
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Harlan F. Stone
Harlan F. Stone
source
NameHarlan F. Stone
CaptionOfficial portrait, 1924
OfficeChief Justice of the United States
NominatorFranklin D. Roosevelt
Term startJuly 3, 1941
Term endApril 22, 1946
PredecessorCharles Evans Hughes
SuccessorFred M. Vinson
Office1Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Nominator1Calvin Coolidge
Term start1March 2, 1925
Term end1July 2, 1941
Predecessor1Joseph McKenna
Successor1Robert H. Jackson
Office2United States Attorney General
President2Calvin Coolidge
Term start2April 7, 1924
Term end2March 2, 1925
Predecessor2Harry M. Daugherty
Successor2John G. Sargent
Birth date11 October 1872
Birth placeChesterfield, New Hampshire
Death date22 April 1946
Death placeWashington, D.C.
PartyRepublican
EducationAmherst College (BA), Columbia Law School (LLB)
SpouseAgnes Harvey, 1899

Harlan F. Stone was an American jurist who served as the Chief Justice of the United States from 1941 until his death in 1946, having previously served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States and as the United States Attorney General. Appointed to the Supreme Court of the United States by President Calvin Coolidge, he was elevated to Chief Justice by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Stone is remembered as a key transitional figure in American constitutional law, often aligning with the liberal wing of the Court during the New Deal era and advocating for judicial restraint.

Early life and education

Harlan Fiske Stone was born on October 11, 1872, in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, to Frederick L. and Ann Sophia (Butler) Stone. He worked on the family farm and attended local public schools before entering Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1894. At Amherst, he formed a lifelong friendship with classmate Calvin Coolidge. He then attended Columbia Law School in New York City, receiving his Bachelor of Laws degree in 1898. After graduation, he was admitted to the New York State Bar Association and began his legal practice in New York City.

Stone practiced law with the prestigious New York firm Sullivan & Cromwell before becoming a professor and, later, dean of Columbia Law School in 1910. As dean, he modernized the curriculum and emphasized the importance of legal scholarship. He returned to private practice in 1923 with the firm Wilmer, Canfield & Stone but his tenure was brief. In 1924, his friend President Calvin Coolidge appointed him as the United States Attorney General to restore integrity to the United States Department of Justice following the scandals of the Teapot Dome affair under his predecessor, Harry M. Daugherty.

Supreme Court service

Stone's effective service as Attorney General led President Coolidge to nominate him as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1925, filling the seat vacated by Joseph McKenna. He was confirmed by the United States Senate with little opposition. On the Court, he often dissented alongside Justices Louis Brandeis and Benjamin N. Cardozo against the conservative majority's invalidation of New Deal legislation. In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt elevated him to Chief Justice of the United States following the retirement of Charles Evans Hughes. As Chief Justice during World War II, he wrote the majority opinion in notable cases such as Ex parte Quirin, which upheld the use of a military tribunal for German saboteurs.

Judicial philosophy and legacy

Stone was a proponent of judicial restraint and is famed for his "footnote four" in the case United States v. Carolene Products Co., which outlined a framework for stricter judicial scrutiny of laws affecting fundamental rights and discrete minorities. This footnote became a cornerstone for modern strict scrutiny analysis. He believed courts should generally defer to legislative bodies on economic regulation but play a more active role in protecting civil liberties. His tenure bridged the Court's shift from the Lochner era to a more deferential stance on economic policy, while laying groundwork for the Warren Court's activism on individual rights.

Personal life and death

Stone married Agnes Harvey in 1899, and they had two sons, Marshall and Lauson. He was an avid fly fisherman and enjoyed hiking. While presiding over the Court on April 22, 1946, he suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage and died later that day in Washington, D.C. His body lay in state in the United States Capitol rotunda, and he was interred at Rock Creek Cemetery. He was succeeded as Chief Justice by Fred M. Vinson. Stone's papers are held at the Library of Congress and his portrait hangs in the Supreme Court Building.

Category:1872 births Category:1946 deaths Category:Chief Justices of the United States Category:Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States Category:United States Attorneys General Category:Columbia Law School alumni