Abe Fortas

Details

Birth

June 19, 1910 · Memphis, Tennessee

Death

April 5, 1982

Law school

yale university

Prior experience

Various legal and public service prior to appointment

Biography

Abraham "Abe" Fortas (1910-1982) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court who served from 1965 to 1969. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Jewish immigrant parents, Fortas excelled academically, graduating from Southwestern at Memphis (now Rhodes College) in 1930 and Yale Law School in 1933, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Yale Law Journal. After graduating second in his class, he worked in various New Deal agencies during the 1930s before co-founding the prestigious Washington law firm Arnold, Fortas & Porter in 1946. As a lawyer, he gained national attention defending Clarence Earl Gideon before the Supreme Court in the landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright (1963). President Lyndon B. Johnson, a close personal friend, nominated Fortas to the Supreme Court in 1965 to replace Arthur Goldberg. During his tenure, Fortas generally aligned with the liberal Warren Court majority, supporting civil rights and civil liberties. His most significant opinion was Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), where he wrote for the majority that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Fortas also wrote notable decisions expanding due process rights and supporting First Amendment protections. However, his tenure was cut short by controversy over his continued advisory role with President Johnson and financial arrangements with a foundation connected to financier Louis Wolfson, who was under federal investigation. Facing potential impeachment proceedings, Fortas became the first Supreme Court Justice to resign under pressure in 1969, returning to private practice until his death in 1982.

Notable opinions

• In re Gault
• Miranda v. Arizona