Quick Facts
In full:
Hugo La Fayette Black
Born:
February 27, 1886, Harlan, Clay county, Alabama, U.S.
Died:
September 25, 1971, Bethesda, Maryland (aged 85)
Political Affiliation:
Democratic Party

Hugo Black (born February 27, 1886, Harlan, Clay county, Alabama, U.S.—died September 25, 1971, Bethesda, Maryland) was a lawyer, politician, and associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937–71). Black’s legacy as a Supreme Court justice derives from his support of the doctrine of total incorporation, according to which the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States makes the Bill of Rights—originally adopted to limit the power of the national government—equally restrictive on the power of the states to curtail individual freedom.

Hugo Black was the youngest of eight children of William La Fayette Black, a poor farmer, and Martha Toland Black. He enrolled in Birmingham (Alabama) Medical School in 1903 but transferred after one year to study law at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. After graduating and passing the bar in 1906, Black practiced law in Birmingham. Appointed a part-time police-court judge in 1911, he fought against the unfair treatment of African Americans and the poor by the local criminal-justice system; as a lawyer, he also represented striking miners and other industrial laborers. His popularity encouraged him to seek political office, and in 1914 he was elected prosecuting attorney for Jefferson county.

After serving in the U.S. Army (1917–19) during World War I, Black resumed the practice of law in Birmingham. His successful defense of a Protestant minister accused of killing a Roman Catholic priest drew the favorable attention of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), and in 1923 Black joined the organization. Although he openly opposed the Klan’s activities, he understood that its support was a prerequisite for political success in the Deep South. Therefore, even after his resignation from the KKK in 1925, he maintained good relations with its leaders.

Washington Monument. Washington Monument and fireworks, Washington DC. The Monument was built as an obelisk near the west end of the National Mall to commemorate the first U.S. president, General George Washington.
Britannica Quiz
All-American History Quiz

Elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat in 1926, Black won considerable acclaim for his investigation of utility lobbyists but was criticized for his opposition to the Wagner-Costigan anti-lynching bill, which he believed would offend white Southerners. In 1932 he supported the presidential campaign of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who easily defeated Pres. Herbert Hoover; that year Black also won reelection to the Senate. Black was a strong supporter of Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation and court-reorganization (“court-packing”) plan. He also sponsored what would become in 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act, the first federal law to regulate wages and hours. Grateful for Black’s support, Roosevelt nominated him to the Supreme Court in August 1937.

Because of his controversial career in the Senate and consistent support of Roosevelt’s policies, Black’s nomination drew strong opposition. During the Senate hearings, his KKK membership was not a highly contentious issue, though the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People demanded answers about Black’s membership in the KKK and the African American physicians of the National Medical Association opposed his nomination. The dominant issue during the Senate hearings was whether Black was eligible to serve on the court, because Congress had passed legislation increasing the benefits for Supreme Court retirees, and federal law prohibited a member of Congress from being appointed to a position affected by such legislation during the term in which the legislation was passed. Nevertheless, Black was confirmed by the Senate 63–16. After Black’s confirmation but before he sat on the bench, however, solid evidence of his membership in the KKK was made public, causing even Roosevelt to demand an explanation. In an unprecedented move, Black participated in a radio address and admitted to Klan membership, though he claimed that he never participated in any of its activities. Public opinion had turned against Black, however; on his first day on the court in October 1937 he entered through the court’s basement, and hundreds of protestors wore black armbands to express their dissatisfaction.

In the early part of his tenure, Black acted with a growing court majority in its reversal of previous vetoes of New Deal legislation. Black combined this tolerance for increased federal powers of economic regulation with an activist stance on civil liberties. He advocated a literal interpretation of the Bill of Rights, developing a virtually absolutist position on First Amendment rights. During the 1940s and ’50s he frequently dissented from the court’s majority in free speech cases, denouncing governmental restrictions on core liberties as unconstitutional.

During the 1960s Black held a prominent position among the liberal majority on the court who struck down mandatory school prayer and who guaranteed the availability of legal counsel to suspected criminals. He was, however, torn on issues involving civil disobedience and privacy rights. Although protests were not necessarily viewed as on a par with plain speech, he nevertheless supported the right of The New York Times to publish the so-called Pentagon Papers in 1971 in the face of government attempts to restrict their publication. True to the literal foundation of his liberal jurisprudence, he dissented from the majority opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut (1965), which established a constitutional right to privacy. Although he claimed that Connecticut’s law, which prohibited using or aiding in the use of any contraceptive device, was “offensive,” he nonetheless argued it was constitutional because he was unable to locate any explicit privacy right within the Constitution.

Are you a student?
Get a special academic rate on Britannica Premium.

Black resigned from the Supreme Court on September 17, 1971, and died just one week later. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Brian P. Smentkowski
Britannica Chatbot logo

Britannica Chatbot

Chatbot answers are created from Britannica articles using AI. This is a beta feature. AI answers may contain errors. Please verify important information in Britannica articles. About Britannica AI.
Quick Facts
Date:
1789 - present
Areas Of Involvement:
U.S. Supreme Court
Related People:
Cass Gilbert

Supreme Court of the United States, final court of appeal and final expositor of the Constitution of the United States. Within the framework of litigation, the Supreme Court marks the boundaries of authority between state and nation, state and state, and government and citizen.

For Britannica’s detailed coverage of cases recently argued before the Supreme Court, see Major Supreme Court Cases from the 2023–24 Term and Major Supreme Court Cases from the 2024–25 Term

Scope and jurisdiction

The Supreme Court was created by the Constitutional Convention of 1787 as the head of a federal court system, though it was not formally established until Congress passed the Judiciary Act in 1789. Although the Constitution outlined the powers, structure, and functions of the legislative and executive branches of government in some detail, it did not do the same for the judicial branch, leaving much of that responsibility to Congress and stipulating only that judicial power be “vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain and establish.” As the country’s court of last resort, the Supreme Court is an appellate body, vested with the authority to act in cases arising under the Constitution, laws, or treaties of the United States; in controversies to which the United States is a party; in disputes between states or between citizens of different states; and in cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction. In suits affecting ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls and in cases in which states are a party, the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction—i.e., it serves as a trial court. Relatively few cases reach the court through its original jurisdiction, however; instead, the vast majority of the court’s business and nearly all of its most influential decisions derive from its appellate jurisdiction.

Size, membership, and organization

The organization of the federal judicial system, including the size of the Supreme Court, is established by Congress. From 1789 to 1807 the court comprised six justices. In 1807 a seventh justice was added, followed by an eighth and a ninth in 1837 and a tenth in 1863. The size of the court has sometimes been subject to political manipulation; for example, in 1866 Congress provided for the gradual reduction (through attrition) of the court to seven justices to ensure that President Andrew Johnson, whom the House of Representatives later impeached and the Senate only narrowly acquitted, could not appoint a new justice. The number of justices reached eight before Congress, after Johnson had left office, adopted new legislation (1869) setting the number at nine, where it has remained ever since. In the 1930s President Franklin D. Roosevelt asked Congress to consider legislation (which it subsequently rejected) that would have allowed the president to appoint an additional justice for each member of the court aged 70 years or older who refused to retire.

According to the Constitution, appointments to the Supreme Court and to the lower federal courts are made by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate, though presidents have rarely consulted the Senate before making a nomination. The Senate Judiciary Committee ordinarily conducts hearings on nominations to the Supreme Court, and a simple majority of the full Senate is required for confirmation. When the position of chief justice is vacant, the president may appoint a chief justice from outside the court or elevate an associate justice to the position. In either case a simple majority of the Senate must approve the appointment. Members of the Supreme Court are appointed for life terms, though they may be expelled if they are impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted in the Senate. Only one justice has been impeached, Samuel Chase, who was acquitted in 1805. In 1969 Abe Fortas resigned under threat of impeachment for alleged financial improprieties unrelated to his duties on the court.

The original copy of the constitution of the United States; housed in the National Archives, Washington, D.C.
Britannica Quiz
American History and Politics Quiz

The federal judicial system originally comprised only trial courts of original jurisdiction and the Supreme Court. As the country grew in size, and in the absence of intermediate appellate courts, the volume of cases awaiting review increased, and fidelity to Supreme Court precedents varied significantly among the lower courts. To remedy this problem, Congress passed the Circuit Court of Appeals Act (1891), which established nine intermediate courts with final authority over appeals from federal district courts, except when the case in question was of exceptional public importance. The Judiciary Act of 1925 (popularly known as the Judges’ Bill), which was sponsored by the court itself, carried the reforms farther, greatly limiting obligatory jurisdiction (which required the Supreme Court to review a case) and expanding the classes of cases that the court could accept at its own discretion through the issue of a writ of certiorari. Further changes were enacted in 1988, when Congress passed legislation that required the Supreme Court to hear appeals of cases involving legislative reapportionment and federal civil rights and antitrust laws. Currently, there are 12 geographic judicial circuits and a court of appeals for the federal circuit, located in Washington, D.C. Roughly 98 percent of federal cases end with a decision by one of the lower appellate courts.

Britannica Chatbot logo

Britannica Chatbot

Chatbot answers are created from Britannica articles using AI. This is a beta feature. AI answers may contain errors. Please verify important information in Britannica articles. About Britannica AI.