Richard Jensen: Abe Fortas ... The Justice Who Should Have Been Impeached

Abe Fortas was a brilliant lawyer—and a fixer who could manipulate the system to his client’s advantage. LBJ immediately spotted this skill; Fortas saved LBJ’s Senate election in 1948. He made Fortas a key advisor, appointing him to the Supreme Court in 1965 and tried to promote him to Chief Justice in 1968. As Justice Fortas secretly continued to be LBJ's top advisor especially on Vietnam, with many White House meetings.

Before the Senate in 1968 he repeatedly swore he was not advising LBJ. This major perjury did not become known until years later. The Republicans filibustered, in order that the next president could make the choice. Fortas was not confirmed as Chief but stayed on the Court. A year later, with Nixon president, it was revealed he had a lifetime" consulting" contract with a criminal who wanted a “friend” on the Supreme Court.

Chief Justice Warren insisted on resignation, although I think impeachment and criminal trial would have been more appropriate. Fortas returned to the practice of law in DC.

This is one of the two or three worst cases of corruption in judicial history. (The others would be Circuit Judge Otto Kerner, who went to prison; and district judge Alcee Hastings, who was impeached in 1989 for bribery and removed…but is now a Congressman from Florida.)

Fortas: The Rise and Ruin of a Supreme Court Justice by Bruce Allen Murphy (1988), attacking the Republicans as villains in 1968, seems almost willing to forgive Fortas’s ethics because of his long service on behalf of the New Deal and Great Society. More honest in emphasizing his turpitude is Abe Fortas: A Biography (1990) by Laura Kalman, which is excerpted online at Amazon.com.

Online the best source is a book review by Allan Lichtman.

A superficial treatment appears in Wikipedia here and here.