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Abe Fortas

b: Memphis, Tennessee, USA, Jun 19, 1910

d: Washington, DC, USA, Apr 5, 1982

Abraham Fortas was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice from 1965 to 1969. Originally from Tennessee, Fortas became a law professor at Yale, and subsequently headed the Securities and Exchange Commission. He then worked at the Interior Department under Franklin D. Roosevelt, and subsequently Harry Truman appointed him to delegations that helped set up the United Nations. Later, in private practice, Fortas represented Lyndon Johnson in an electoral dispute, and formed close ties with the president-to-be. Fortas also represented Clarence Earl Gideon before the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case involving the right to counsel. As a Johnson appointee to the Court, Fortas maintained a close working relationship with the president, and in 1968 Johnson tried to elevate Fortas to the position of Chief Justice, but that nomination faced a filibuster due at least in part to ethics problems that later caused him to step down from the Court. Fortas returned to private practice, sometimes appearing before the judges with whom he had served.

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For a justice of this ultimate tribunal, the opportunity for self-discovery and the occasion for self-revelation is usually great.

Judging is a lonely job in which a man is, as near as may be, an island entire.