Has there ever been two Supreme Court justices who were reported to hate each other? (user search)
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  Has there ever been two Supreme Court justices who were reported to hate each other? (search mode)
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Author Topic: Has there ever been two Supreme Court justices who were reported to hate each other?  (Read 1777 times)
David Hume
davidhume
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« on: December 29, 2021, 12:47:09 AM »

Frankfurter really didn't like the more liberal on the court, particularly Douglas and Black, but also Warren.

I believe MarkD has pointed out that in Frankfurter's memoirs he calls Douglas one of only two genuinely evil men he had ever met, the other being some private citizen or other whom Frankfurter grants the dignity of namelessness.

In addition to Frankfurter's hostility to Douglas and McReynolds's universal unpopularity with his colleagues, it's becoming increasingly obvious that Kagan can't stand Kavanaugh. Stephen Johnson Field in the late nineteenth century is also said to have been a widely disliked man.
Source?

I have the impression that Kagan is trying to be friend with Kavanaugh in order to get him "evolve".
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David Hume
davidhume
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« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2021, 12:52:38 AM »
« Edited: December 29, 2021, 03:46:31 PM by David Hume »

As already alluded to up above, McReynolds is basically the Scrooge of the Court's history: nobody on the Court even came to his funeral, whereas the funeral of his Black messenger, Harry Parker, was attended by like 6 justices, including the Chief Justice. Needless to say, pretty much everybody on the Court hated his f**king guts, & not least because the contempt was not only very much mutual but at first impression too: he was such an anti-Semite that after Brandeis was confirmed to be the first Jewish justice, McReynolds would leave the conference room whenever it was Brandeis' turn to speak & even refused to allow the Court's picture to be taken one year since the seniority protocols dictated that he'd have to sit next to Brandeis. He proceeded to refuse to speak to Brandeis for the latter's first 3 years on the bench, & never once to Cardozo.

Frankfurter was also a mess of drama: not only was he one of the many justices who derided Douglas as sloppy & too motivated by his political ambitions, having written that "Douglas' crookery has a depth beyond plumbing. One has had to live with him for years to appreciate his shamelessness," but he himself was so hated that his departure actually precipitated a notable increase in civility on the Court. As long as he was on the Court, though, there were always rivalries on it, with Frankfurter being widely disliked, particularly by McReynolds & Black, because he talked down to his colleagues on the Court. Douglas also got in one "f**k you" at Frankfurter, infamously refusing to sign Frankfurter's retirement card, like how McReynolds had refused to sign Brandeis', just without the anti-Semitism.

Also, I don't think anybody who's ever worked with Burger could be said to be a fan of his. By all accounts, he was a jerk, plus such an incompetent Chief: he couldn't manage a conference to save his life & who'd blatantly change sides on a case just to control the opinion assignment. Stewart probably would've killed him himself had he stayed on the Court any longer.


To my knowledge Rehnquist and O'Connor were friendly with Burger. I assume White as well, since Burger recommend him to be his successor as Chief Justice.
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David Hume
davidhume
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Posts: 1,628
United States


Political Matrix
E: -0.77, S: 1.22

P P
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2021, 12:58:31 AM »


Also, said justices were widely disliked by most of those with whom they served, even if it didn't extend to pure "hatred." Since Burger left, though, there haven't been any publicly revealed personal feuds between the justices, with seemingly all of the justices being very emphatic that everybody on the Court works to gets along with one another in spite of any ideological differences, which is frankly remarkable, given the lack of civility in the Taft/Hughes/Stone/Vinson/Warren eras.


O'Connor dislikes Scalia and Thomas. Her hate towards Scalia is understandable, as Scalia publicly wrote her opinion "cannot be taken seriously". Her hate towards Thomas is... To my knowledge, Thomas is very gentle and easygoing, and even liberal clerks like him personally.
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