STONE, HARLAN FISKE 1872-1946

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, 1924

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE US. SUPREME COURT. 1925-1941

CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE US. SUPREME COURT. 1941-1946

Background

After graduating from the Columbia University Law School in 1898, Harlan Fiske Stone joined the prestigious Wall Street law firm of Sullivan, Dulles, and Cromwell, remaining with the firm until 1918, when he returned to Columbia to become dean of the law school.

Attorney General

On 28 March 1924 President Calvin Coolidge dismissed U.S. Attorney General Harry Daugherty for his alleged involvement in the corruption scandals that had rocked the Harding administration and appointed Stone to fill the vacancy. Known for his personal integrity, Stone promised Coolidge that he would review his predecessor's actions and discharge all departmental subordinates who were suspected of criminal wrongdoing. This "cleanup" campaign was in progress in December 1924 when Coolidge nominated Stone to replace Associate Justice Mahlon Pitney on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Justice

At that time the Senate Judiciary Committee customarily conducted the confirmation process by sending written questions to a Supreme Court nominee, who replied in writing. This time, however, Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee, led by Sen. Joseph Robinson of Arkansas, demanded that Stone personally testify before the panel because they wanted to interrogate him about his efforts to "sanitize" the Department of Justice. Conducted in executive session on 28 January 1925, this interview—the first hearing of its type in American history—established a precedent for later public confirmation hearings. Stone answered all the senators* questions in a satisfactory manner, and on 2 February he was confirmed by the full Senate in an overwhelming vote of 71-6. On the court Stone generally sided with the conservative bloc led by Chief Justice William Howard Taft, but he sometimes joined Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and Louis Brandeis in dissenting from the majority, usually in support of civil liberties. Stone became chief justice in 1941 and remained on the Supreme Court until his death in 1946.

Sources:

Samuel J. Konefsky, Chief Justice Stone and the Supreme Court (New York: Macmillan, 1945);

Alpheus Thomas Mann, Harlan Fiske Stone: Pittar of the Law (New York: Viking, 1956).