Stanley Forman Reed

Stanley Forman Reed
Stanley Forman Reed
Stanley Forman Reed
Born	31 12, 1884
Birthplace	Minerva, Kentucky, U.S.
Died	Template:Death date and age Huntington, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Lawyer, jurist
Known for	Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1938–1957), U.S. Solicitor General (1935–1938)
Education	Kentucky Wesleyan College (BA), Yale University (BA)
Children	2

Stanley Forman Reed (December 31, 1884 – April 2, 1980) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1938 to 1957. Appointed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Reed came to the Court after serving as the 23rd Solicitor General of the United States from 1935 to 1938, during which time he defended the constitutionality of several landmark New Deal programs before the very Court on which he would later sit. Born in the small town of Minerva in Mason County, Kentucky, Reed pursued legal studies at multiple prestigious institutions—including the University of Virginia, Columbia University, and the University of Paris—but never earned a law degree, making him the last Supreme Court Justice to serve without having graduated from law school. Before his appointment to the federal bench, Reed served in the Kentucky House of Representatives, practiced corporate law, and held significant positions in federal agencies during the early years of the Great Depression. During his nearly two decades on the Supreme Court, Reed authored important majority opinions in cases including Smith v. Allwright, Gorin v. United States, and Adamson v. California, and his judicial record often defied easy ideological categorization.

Early Life

Stanley Forman Reed was born on December 31, 1884, in Minerva, a small community in Mason County, Kentucky. He grew up in the rural landscape of northeastern Kentucky, in a region along the Ohio River that had deep roots in the state's legal and political traditions. Reed was raised in Mason County and would later establish his professional life in Maysville, the county seat, where he built a legal practice and entered public life.

Reed's upbringing in small-town Kentucky shaped his practical approach to law and governance. Mason County, situated on the border with Ohio, was a community where agriculture and commerce intersected, and Reed's early exposure to the economic concerns of rural America would later inform his work on federal agricultural and financial policy during the New Deal era.

As a young man, Reed demonstrated academic ambition that led him well beyond the borders of Kentucky. He pursued undergraduate education at Kentucky Wesleyan College, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, and subsequently attended Yale University, where he earned a second Bachelor of Arts degree. This dual undergraduate education reflected both Reed's intellectual curiosity and his desire to supplement his Kentucky education with the broader perspectives available at an elite Eastern institution.

Education

Reed's educational trajectory was notable for its breadth and for the fact that, despite attending multiple law schools, he never earned a law degree. After completing his undergraduate studies at Kentucky Wesleyan College and Yale University, Reed pursued legal studies at the University of Virginia School of Law. He also attended Columbia Law School in New York and studied at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) in France, giving him an unusually international legal education for the early twentieth century.

Despite this extensive coursework at some of the most prestigious legal institutions in the United States and Europe, Reed did not graduate from any law school. At the time, graduation from law school was not a prerequisite for admission to the bar in many states, and Reed was able to enter the legal profession through alternative pathways that were common in the early 1900s. He became the last person to serve on the United States Supreme Court without having obtained a law degree, a distinction that has been noted by legal historians and commentators. His lack of a formal law degree did not impede his career; to the contrary, Reed's broad educational background and practical legal training proved more than sufficient for the demands of private practice, government service, and ultimately the nation's highest court.

Career

Early Legal Practice and Kentucky Politics

After completing his studies, Reed established a legal practice in Maysville, Kentucky, where he became a prominent attorney in the Mason County legal community. He developed expertise in corporate law and built a reputation as a skilled practitioner in the region.

Reed entered politics as a member of the Democratic Party, winning election to the Kentucky House of Representatives from the 87th district. He served in the state legislature from January 1, 1912, to January 1, 1916, succeeding Samuel A. Shanklin and being succeeded by Harry P. Purnell. His tenure in the Kentucky House provided Reed with formative experience in the legislative process and the practical workings of government.

Military Service

When the United States entered World War I, Reed served in the United States Army from 1917 to 1918. He held the rank of Lieutenant during his service. After the war, Reed returned to Kentucky and resumed his legal career, emerging as an increasingly prominent corporate attorney whose expertise would soon attract the attention of the federal government.

Federal Service Before the Court

Reed's transition from private practice to federal service came during a period of profound economic crisis in the United States. He took positions with the Federal Farm Board and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), two agencies that played central roles in the federal government's response to the agricultural depression and the broader Great Depression. At the Federal Farm Board, Reed dealt with the severe economic challenges facing American farmers, while at the RFC he worked on the financial stabilization efforts that sought to shore up failing banks and businesses.

These positions gave Reed extensive experience with the legal and constitutional questions surrounding federal economic intervention—experience that would prove invaluable in his next role. As the Roosevelt administration embarked on its ambitious New Deal legislative program, it needed lawyers who understood both the substance of economic policy and the constitutional framework within which such policies had to operate.

Solicitor General (1935–1938)

On March 25, 1935, Reed was appointed as the 23rd Solicitor General of the United States, succeeding James Crawford Biggs. As Solicitor General, Reed served as the federal government's chief advocate before the Supreme Court at one of the most contentious periods in the Court's history. The Roosevelt administration's New Deal programs faced sustained legal challenges, and the Supreme Court—then dominated by conservative justices who took a narrow view of federal power—struck down several key pieces of legislation.

Reed was tasked with defending the constitutionality of these programs before a skeptical Court. He argued cases involving major New Deal statutes, making the case that the federal government's power under the Commerce Clause and other constitutional provisions was broad enough to encompass the economic regulatory measures that the Roosevelt administration had enacted. While not all of these arguments prevailed initially, Reed's tenure as Solicitor General coincided with the eventual shift in the Court's jurisprudence that came to be known as the "switch in time that saved nine," after which the Court began upholding New Deal legislation.

During his time as Solicitor General, Reed argued numerous cases before the Supreme Court, including cases that tested the limits of federal regulatory authority. His work in this capacity brought him into close professional contact with the justices and gave him an intimate understanding of the Court's internal dynamics—knowledge that would serve him well when he joined the bench.

Reed served as Solicitor General until January 30, 1938, when he was succeeded by Robert H. Jackson, who would himself later join the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court Nomination and Confirmation

Following the retirement of Associate Justice George Sutherland, one of the conservative "Four Horsemen" who had opposed much of the New Deal, President Roosevelt nominated Reed to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court. Reed was Roosevelt's second appointment to the Court (after Hugo Black in 1937), and his nomination reflected Roosevelt's desire to reshape the Court with justices who would be sympathetic to an expansive view of federal power.

Reed took the oath of office on January 31, 1938. His confirmation proceeded without significant opposition, as his experience as Solicitor General had demonstrated his legal competence and his familiarity with the constitutional issues that dominated the Court's docket.

Supreme Court Tenure (1938–1957)

Reed served on the Supreme Court for nearly nineteen years, from 1938 to 1957. During this period, the Court confronted a wide range of constitutional questions, including civil rights, civil liberties, the scope of federal power, and the relationship between government and individual freedom. Reed's voting record during this period often defied easy categorization, leading observers to describe him as a moderate or centrist justice whose positions did not fit neatly into liberal or conservative categories.

Notable Majority Opinions

Reed authored several significant majority opinions during his tenure on the Court. Among the most consequential was Smith v. Allwright (1944), in which the Court held that the white primary—a system in which political parties in Southern states restricted participation in primary elections to white voters—violated the Fifteenth Amendment. The decision was a landmark in the legal struggle against racial discrimination in voting and struck down one of the mechanisms by which African Americans were excluded from meaningful political participation in the South.

Reed also wrote the majority opinion in Gorin v. United States (1941), a case involving espionage and national security that addressed the scope of federal espionage statutes. The case was significant for its interpretation of what constituted espionage under federal law.

In Adamson v. California (1947), Reed authored the majority opinion holding that the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination did not apply to state criminal proceedings through the Fourteenth Amendment. This opinion placed Reed in the camp of justices who favored a selective incorporation approach, as opposed to the total incorporation position advocated by Justice Black in his famous dissent in the same case.

Notable Dissents

Reed authored dissenting opinions in several significant cases. In Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education (1948), the Court held that a program allowing religious instruction in public school buildings during school hours violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Reed dissented from this holding, taking a narrower view of the separation of church and state than the majority.

Judicial Philosophy

Reed's judicial philosophy was characterized by a practical, case-by-case approach rather than adherence to a rigid ideological framework. The New York Times noted in his obituary that his "voting record often confounded critics who identified him with the liberal philosophies of the New Deal," suggesting that while Reed supported an expansive view of federal regulatory power, he did not consistently vote with the Court's liberal bloc on civil liberties and criminal procedure issues. This complexity made Reed a figure who resisted simple ideological labeling—he was a Roosevelt appointee who nonetheless took positions on individual rights questions that placed him closer to the Court's center or even its conservative wing on certain issues.

Reed's approach to constitutional interpretation reflected the sensibilities of a lawyer who had come of age in an era when legal formalism was giving way to legal realism, and who had spent years as a practitioner dealing with the concrete economic problems of the Depression era. His opinions tended to be workmanlike and focused on the specific facts and legal questions at hand, rather than sweeping pronouncements of constitutional principle.

Retirement and Later Service

Reed retired from the Supreme Court on February 25, 1957. He was succeeded by Charles Evans Whittaker, who was nominated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. After his retirement from the bench, Reed continued to serve the federal judiciary. Like many retired Supreme Court justices, he sat by designation on lower federal courts, hearing cases in the United States Court of Appeals and the United States Court of Claims.

Reed's willingness to continue judicial work after his retirement from the Supreme Court reflected his dedication to public service and his continued engagement with the law well into his later years. He remained active in legal circles and was recognized as an elder statesman of the American judiciary.

Personal Life

Stanley Forman Reed was a member of the Democratic Party throughout his political career. He and his wife had two children. Reed maintained ties to his native Kentucky throughout his life, even as his career took him to Washington, D.C., and into the highest levels of the federal government.

After his retirement from the Supreme Court, Reed lived for more than two decades. He died on April 2, 1980, in Huntington, New York, at the age of 95. At the time of his death, he was one of the longest-lived Supreme Court justices in American history. His papers are held by the University of Kentucky, where they are available to researchers studying the history of the Supreme Court and the New Deal era.

Recognition

Reed's significance in American legal history rests on several distinctive aspects of his career and service. His role as Solicitor General during the pivotal years of the New Deal constitutional crisis placed him at the center of one of the most consequential legal battles in American history—the struggle over the scope of federal power to regulate the national economy. His subsequent service on the Supreme Court allowed him to participate in shaping the constitutional framework that emerged from that crisis.

The decision in Smith v. Allwright, for which Reed wrote the majority opinion, stands as one of the most important voting rights decisions of the twentieth century. By striking down the white primary, the Court removed a significant barrier to African American political participation in the South, paving the way for further advances in voting rights in the decades that followed.

Reed's status as the last Supreme Court Justice without a law degree has also made him a notable figure in discussions about legal education and qualifications for judicial service. His successful career—spanning private practice, legislative service, executive branch positions, and nearly two decades on the Supreme Court—demonstrated that formal legal credentials were not the sole determinant of judicial competence.

The Virginia Law Weekly profiled Reed as part of its series on University of Virginia Law's connections to the Supreme Court, noting his attendance at the law school as part of his broad educational journey.

Legacy

Stanley Forman Reed's legacy is that of a practical, moderate jurist who served during a transformative period in American constitutional law. His career bridged the gap between the old constitutional order—in which federal regulatory power was narrowly construed—and the modern constitutional framework that permitted extensive federal involvement in economic and social life. As Solicitor General, he was an architect of the legal arguments that helped bring about this transformation; as a justice, he participated in consolidating and defining its contours.

Reed's nearly two decades on the Court coincided with some of the most significant developments in American constitutional law, including the expansion of federal power during and after World War II, the early stages of the civil rights revolution, and the ongoing debate over the incorporation of the Bill of Rights against the states. His opinions in cases like Smith v. Allwright and Adamson v. California addressed fundamental questions about equality, liberty, and the structure of American federalism that continue to resonate in constitutional discourse.

His judicial record, which The New York Times described as frequently confounding ideological expectations, serves as a reminder that the work of judging often resists the neat categories that observers attempt to impose upon it. Reed approached each case on its own terms, drawing on his extensive experience as a practitioner and government lawyer to reach conclusions that reflected his understanding of the law's practical operation rather than abstract theoretical commitments.

Reed's long life—he lived to 95—and his continued service on lower federal courts after his retirement from the Supreme Court exemplified a commitment to public service that spanned more than half a century. His papers at the University of Kentucky remain a valuable resource for scholars studying the New Deal, the Roosevelt Court, and the development of American constitutional law in the twentieth century.