Stanley Forman Reed

Stanley Forman Reed
Harris & Ewing · Public domain · source
Name	Stanley Forman Reed
Caption	Official portrait, 1941
Office	Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Nominator	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Term start	January 31, 1938
Term end	February 25, 1957
Predecessor	George Sutherland
Successor	Charles Evans Whittaker
Office1	Solicitor General of the United States
President1	Franklin D. Roosevelt
Term start1	March 23, 1935
Term end1	January 30, 1938
Predecessor1	James Crawford Biggs
Successor1	Robert H. Jackson
Birth date	31 December 1884
Birth place	Maysville, Kentucky
Death date	2 April 1980
Death place	Huntington, New York
Party	Democratic
Education	Kentucky Wesleyan College, Yale University (BA), University of Virginia School of Law, Columbia Law School, University of Paris
Spouse	Winifred Elgin, 1908

Stanley Forman Reed was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1938 to 1957. Appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, he was a key figure during the New Deal era and the early years of the modern civil rights movement. His jurisprudence, particularly in cases concerning economic regulation and racial segregation, reflected a pragmatic approach to government power and social change, often emphasizing stability and gradual legal evolution over radical judicial intervention.

Early life and legal career

Stanley Forman Reed was born in Maysville, Kentucky, into a prominent family with deep roots in the Bluegrass region. He attended Kentucky Wesleyan College before earning a bachelor's degree from Yale University in 1906. He studied law at the University of Virginia School of Law, Columbia Law School, and the University of Paris, though he did not receive a formal law degree. Admitted to the Kentucky bar in 1910, he practiced law in Maysville and served in the Kentucky General Assembly from 1912 to 1916. During World War I, he served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army. His legal career advanced when he moved to New York City to work for the American Farm Bureau Federation, and he later became general counsel for the Federal Farm Board in Washington, D.C.. His expertise in agricultural law and his staunch defense of New Deal programs caught the attention of the Roosevelt administration.

Appointment to the Supreme Court

President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed Reed as the Solicitor General of the United States in 1935, a role in which he vigorously defended the constitutionality of pivotal New Deal legislation, such as the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act, before the Supreme Court of the United States. His successful advocacy for expansive federal power during the Constitutional crisis surrounding the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 made him a natural candidate for the high court. In January 1938, Roosevelt nominated him to fill the seat vacated by the retiring conservative Justice George Sutherland. Reed was easily confirmed by the United States Senate and took his judicial oath on January 31, 1938, joining the Court during a period of profound ideological shift.

Civil rights jurisprudence

Justice Reed's approach to civil rights issues was characterized by judicial restraint and a focus on statutory interpretation rather than broad constitutional pronouncements. He was generally supportive of the federal government's authority to address racial discrimination but often favored incremental progress. In the landmark case Smith v. Allwright (1944), he wrote the majority opinion that declared white primaries unconstitutional, a significant blow to Jim Crow laws in the Southern United States. However, in other areas, his views were more conservative. He dissented in Morgan v. Virginia (1946), which struck down a state law segregating interstate buses, arguing for the primacy of state police power. His most notable contribution to the civil rights movement came in the context of school segregation.

Key opinions and dissents

Reed authored several important opinions and dissents that shaped the legal landscape of civil rights. In Smith v. Allwright, his opinion relied on the Fifteenth Amendment to outlaw the Texas Democratic Party's exclusion of African Americans from primary elections. Conversely, in Morgan v. Virginia, his dissent emphasized the challenges of uniform national regulation of interstate commerce. In the consolidated cases leading to Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Reed was initially hesitant to overturn the "separate but equal" doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson. He ultimately joined Chief Justice Earl Warren's unanimous opinion in *Brown*, a decision pivotal for desegregation, but his private papers suggest he did so to preserve the Court's institutional unity and prevent a damaging split. He also wrote the Court's opinion in Takahashi v. Fish and Game Comm'n (1948), which struck down a California law denying fishing licenses to Japanese immigrants, on grounds of federal preemption.

Post-judicial career and legacy

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