| Hugo Black | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court From: August 18, 1937 – September 17, 1971 | |||
| Nominator | Franklin D. Roosevelt | ||
| Predecessor | Willis Van Devanter | ||
| Successor | Lewis Powell | ||
| U.S. Senator from Alabama From: March 4, 1927 – August 19, 1937 | |||
| Predecessor | Oscar W. Underwood | ||
| Successor | Dixie B. Graves | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Democrat | ||
| Spouse(s) | Josephine Foster (1921-1951) Elizabeth Seay DeMeritte (1957-death) | ||
Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, he served from August 19, 1937 – September 17, 1971.
He had previously served as a Democrat in the U.S. Senate from 1926–1937, representing the State of Alabama. Black built his winning Senate campaign around multiple appearances at KKK meetings. Before his political career he was a member of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. In 1921 Black successfully defended E. R. Stephenson in his trial for the murder of a Catholic priest, Fr. James E. Coyle.
As a Supreme Court Justice, Black was completely opposed to:
- school prayer
- religion in public life
- patent rights
- any limitations on pornography
Justice Black was the leading proponent of incorporation doctrine, and often insisted on a literalist interpretation of the Bill of Rights, and he dissented from Griswold v. Connecticut.
Black was well known for his anti-Catholic viewpoints,[1] and was profoundly influenced by the writings of Paul Blanshard, a socialist.[2][3][4] In Korematsu v. the United States, Black voted to uphold President Roosevelt's mass arrests and incarceration of Japanese men, women, and children based on race.