John Q. Barrett: How NOT to win an appointment to the Supreme Court
[Professor John Q. Barrett, St. John’s University School of Law.]
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose first four years in the White House brought no opportunity to appoint a Supreme Court Justice, made five appointments to the Court during his second term:
· in 1937, Senator Hugo L. Black (D.-AL);
· in 1938, Solicitor General Stanley F. Reed;
· in 1939, Harvard Law School Professor Felix Frankfurter;
· also in 1939, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William O. Douglas; and
· in 1940, Attorney General Frank Murphy.
Each of these Justices came to the Court from public prominence. Most came from the Roosevelt Administration itself. These appointees were well known to the President. Their selections involved no surprises or mysteries.
In contrast, the process by which an outsider, W.E. Lantz of West Virginia, came to White House attention in early 1941 for a Supreme Court appointment has been little studied or understood. I also know of no scholarship regarding the process by which the White House promptly informed the Department of Justice of Lantz’s candidacy, or on the process by which DOJ then made Lantz’s potential appointment known to the Supreme Court.
Luckily, these processes are documented in the following paper trail, which begins a few weeks after Justice James C. McReynolds’s abrupt resignation from the Supreme Court:
· On February 21, Mr. Lantz, apparently believing that he was responding to a White House inquiry, wrote by hand to President Roosevelt’s appointments secretary, Marvin H. McIntyre:
Philippi W-Va Route 1
Feb 21 – 1941
Mr. M. H McIntyre Secretary
I received your Letter of 13 and
can Say that I am ready
to take associate Justice
of Supreme Court will you
tell me by return mail
how Soon the President
will make appointment
as Mr. Reynolds [sic] has Resig
ned the Job. So if Mr.
Roosevelt can favor
me with the Appointment
I will do my best to
favor you and him on
every opportunity[.] how much
does the Justice Job pay per
yr. or month.
Your Truly. W.E. Lantz
· McIntyre, after reading Mr. Lantz’s letter, wrote “Justice” (meaning the Department of Justice) across the top of the page and sent it to Attorney General Robert H. Jackson. On March 8th, Jackson dictated this letter and then sent it, along with a photocopy and a typed transcription of the Lantz letter, to Justice Frankfurter at the Supreme Court:
Dear Felix:
I think you should know how casually a Justice of the Supreme Court is created, and of what material.
Sincerely,
/s/ Bob
· When Justice Frankfurter received Jackson’s letter, he penned this note on the bottom of the page and sent it back to the Attorney General:
Dear Bob-
I now know what
is meant by
“meet me at
Philippi.”
But – or and –
W.E. Lantz ought to
make an interesting
colleague!
Always yrs FF
(These letters are real—nothing here is a belated April Fool’s joke, although some amusement obviously was had by McIntyre, Jackson and Frankfurter.)
For Mr. Lantz, alas, Supreme Court appointment never came. In June, President Roosevelt nominated Senator James F. Byrnes (D.-SC) to succeed Justice McReynolds (on the same day that the President also nominated Justice Harlan Fiske Stone to succeed retiring Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Attorney General Jackson to succeed Stone as Associate Justice). When Byrnes resigned from the Court a year later to take a White House position, FDR nominated Judge Wiley B. Rutledge to succeed Justice Byrnes. Justice Rutledge became FDR’s ninth and final appointee to the Supreme Court.
For any who think to follow Mr. Lantz’s example by writing to the White House seeking a Supreme Court appointment, I recommend better punctuation, less concern about salary, and the judgment not to offer to try to “favor” your appointing President.
Read entire article at "Jackson list" (Mr. Barrett is writing a biography of Justice Jackson) Click here to download a PDF that includes images of the Lantz and Jackson-Frankfurter letters.
· in 1937, Senator Hugo L. Black (D.-AL);
· in 1938, Solicitor General Stanley F. Reed;
· in 1939, Harvard Law School Professor Felix Frankfurter;
· also in 1939, Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William O. Douglas; and
· in 1940, Attorney General Frank Murphy.
Each of these Justices came to the Court from public prominence. Most came from the Roosevelt Administration itself. These appointees were well known to the President. Their selections involved no surprises or mysteries.
In contrast, the process by which an outsider, W.E. Lantz of West Virginia, came to White House attention in early 1941 for a Supreme Court appointment has been little studied or understood. I also know of no scholarship regarding the process by which the White House promptly informed the Department of Justice of Lantz’s candidacy, or on the process by which DOJ then made Lantz’s potential appointment known to the Supreme Court.
Luckily, these processes are documented in the following paper trail, which begins a few weeks after Justice James C. McReynolds’s abrupt resignation from the Supreme Court:
· On February 21, Mr. Lantz, apparently believing that he was responding to a White House inquiry, wrote by hand to President Roosevelt’s appointments secretary, Marvin H. McIntyre:
Philippi W-Va Route 1
Feb 21 – 1941
Mr. M. H McIntyre Secretary
I received your Letter of 13 and
can Say that I am ready
to take associate Justice
of Supreme Court will you
tell me by return mail
how Soon the President
will make appointment
as Mr. Reynolds [sic] has Resig
ned the Job. So if Mr.
Roosevelt can favor
me with the Appointment
I will do my best to
favor you and him on
every opportunity[.] how much
does the Justice Job pay per
yr. or month.
Your Truly. W.E. Lantz
· McIntyre, after reading Mr. Lantz’s letter, wrote “Justice” (meaning the Department of Justice) across the top of the page and sent it to Attorney General Robert H. Jackson. On March 8th, Jackson dictated this letter and then sent it, along with a photocopy and a typed transcription of the Lantz letter, to Justice Frankfurter at the Supreme Court:
Dear Felix:
I think you should know how casually a Justice of the Supreme Court is created, and of what material.
Sincerely,
/s/ Bob
· When Justice Frankfurter received Jackson’s letter, he penned this note on the bottom of the page and sent it back to the Attorney General:
Dear Bob-
I now know what
is meant by
“meet me at
Philippi.”
But – or and –
W.E. Lantz ought to
make an interesting
colleague!
Always yrs FF
(These letters are real—nothing here is a belated April Fool’s joke, although some amusement obviously was had by McIntyre, Jackson and Frankfurter.)
For Mr. Lantz, alas, Supreme Court appointment never came. In June, President Roosevelt nominated Senator James F. Byrnes (D.-SC) to succeed Justice McReynolds (on the same day that the President also nominated Justice Harlan Fiske Stone to succeed retiring Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Attorney General Jackson to succeed Stone as Associate Justice). When Byrnes resigned from the Court a year later to take a White House position, FDR nominated Judge Wiley B. Rutledge to succeed Justice Byrnes. Justice Rutledge became FDR’s ninth and final appointee to the Supreme Court.
For any who think to follow Mr. Lantz’s example by writing to the White House seeking a Supreme Court appointment, I recommend better punctuation, less concern about salary, and the judgment not to offer to try to “favor” your appointing President.