# Hugo Black *U.S. senator from Alabama (1927–1937) and associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937–1971)* Hugo Lafayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was an Alabama lawyer and [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] politician. He represented Alabama in the [[United States Senate]] from 1927 to 1937. He then sat as an associate justice of the Supreme Court from 1937 to 1971. He backed Franklin D. Roosevelt in the presidential elections of 1932 and 1936.[^1] In the 1920s Black belonged to the revived Ku Klux Klan. A *Pittsburgh Post-Gazette* article reported that he resigned temporarily in 1925, ahead of his Senate campaign, and quietly rejoined in 1926. On his 1937 appointment to the Court, Black said: "Before becoming a Senator I dropped the Klan. I have had nothing to do with it since that time."[^1] Roosevelt nominated him. The Senate confirmed him 63 to 16, with six Democrats and ten Republicans voting no. He was the first of Roosevelt's nine appointees to the Court.[^2] Over thirty-four years on the Court, Black wrote majority opinions extending individual rights, including in *Gideon v. Wainwright*, *Engel v. Vitale* and *Wesberry v. Sanders*. He also wrote the majority opinion in *Korematsu v. United States* (1944). That decision upheld the internment of Japanese Americans that President Roosevelt had ordered.[^1] ## Early years Black was born on February 27, 1886, in Harlan, Clay County, Alabama, the youngest of eight children of William Lafayette Black and Martha (Toland) Black. The family moved in 1890 to Ashland, the county seat.[^3] He studied at Ashland College and then at the University of Alabama School of Law. He received an LL.B. in 1906 and began practising in Ashland. In 1907 he moved to Birmingham, where his practice concentrated on labor law and personal injury.[^3] Black defended a man who had been forced into a form of commercial slavery after incarceration. Through that case he came to know A. O. Lane, a judge connected with it. After Lane won a seat on the Birmingham City Commission in 1911, Black served at his request as a police court judge. That was his only judicial post before the Supreme Court. He left the bench in 1912. In 1914 he began a four-year term as Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney.[^3] During World War I, Black resigned to enter the United States Army. He served in the 81st Field Artillery and reached the rank of captain as regimental adjutant. The war ended before his reassigned unit left the United States.[^3] ## Senate career Black ran for the Senate in 1926 after Senator Oscar Underwood retired. The Democratic Party had controlled Alabama politics since it disenfranchised most black voters, and Republicans, around the turn of the century. Black defeated Republican E. H. Dryer with 80.9% of the white vote. In 1932 he won reelection with 86.3% against Republican J. Theodore Johnson.[^4] In 1934 Black chaired the committee that examined air mail contracts awarded under Postmaster General Walter Folger Brown. That inquiry produced the Air Mail scandal. Black described abuses of "fraud and collusion" under the Air Mail Act of 1930. In response he introduced the Black–McKellar Bill, which became the Air Mail Act of 1934.[^4] In 1935 Black took part in a Senate investigation of lobbying. He called for legislation requiring lobbyists to register their names and salaries publicly. That same year he became chairman of the Senate Committee on Education and Labor. He held the post until he left the Senate. On August 8, 1935, he spoke on NBC's *National Radio Forum* about a $5 million electric-industry lobbying campaign. That campaign had sought to defeat the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935.[^4] During his Senate decade he also served as secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference.[^1] ## Appointment to the Supreme Court The court-packing plan failed, and conservative Justice [[Willis Van Devanter]] then retired. This gave Roosevelt his first Supreme Court vacancy. The final candidates were Solicitor General Stanley Reed, [[Sherman Minton]] and Black. As a senator, Black had voted for all 24 of Roosevelt's major New Deal programs.[^5] Roosevelt nominated Black on August 12, 1937. Senators nominated to office were customarily confirmed at once and without debate. Black's nomination was instead sent to the Judiciary Committee. Critics raised his Klan membership once it became public. Walter Francis White, executive secretary of the NAACP and a friend of Black's, helped answer critics of the appointment. Black's 1940 ruling in *Chambers v. Florida* later helped settle those concerns. In that case he ruled for African-American criminal defendants whose due process rights had been violated.[^5] ## Supreme Court career Black argued on the Court for judicial restraint. He read the Constitution by its plain meaning and stressed the supremacy of the legislature. In his early years he helped overturn precedents that had read federal power narrowly. As a result, New Deal statutes were upheld that earlier rulings would have struck down.[^6] [[Felix Frankfurter]] and [[William O. Douglas]] joined the Court in 1939. Douglas often voted with Black, especially in First Amendment cases. Frankfurter became an ideological opponent. Black was senior associate justice from 1945 to 1971.[^6] In *Jewell Ridge Coal Corp. v. Local 6167, United Mine Workers* (1945), the Court ruled 5–4 for the union. Black was in the majority. The company then sought rehearing on the ground that Black should have recused himself. Its argument was that his law partner of twenty years earlier represented the mine workers. The episode led to a bitter dispute with Justice [[Robert H. Jackson]].[^6] ## Jurisprudence Black's jurisprudence rested on history, literalism and absolutism. It influenced justices as different as [[Earl Warren]] and [[Antonin Scalia]].[^7] He held that the Bill of Rights was made binding on the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. He took an absolutist view of the First Amendment, often stating that "No law [abridging the freedom of speech] means no law."[^1] In 1968 he wrote that "power corrupts, and unrestricted power will tempt Supreme Court justices just as history tells us it has tempted other judges." He regarded his opinion in *Adamson v. California* (1947) as his "most significant opinion written".[^7] From the mid-1960s his positions became somewhat more conservative. He also rejected the doctrine of substantive due process.[^1] ## Retirement and death In August 1971 Black entered the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He retired from the Court on September 17, 1971. Two days later he suffered a stroke, and he died on September 25.[^8] More than 1,000 people attended his funeral at the National Cathedral. At his request the coffin was "simple and cheap". He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. President Richard Nixon nominated Lewis Powell as his successor. Powell took the oath on January 7, 1972.[^8] ## Ku Klux Klan and anti-Catholicism Ray Sprigle of the *Pittsburgh Post-Gazette* published a series starting on September 13, 1937. It documented Black's Klan involvement and won a [[Pulitzer Prize]]. Sprigle characterized Black's resignation from the Klan as "the first move of his campaign for the Democratic nomination for United States Senator from Alabama". He reported that the resignation was held secretly in the Alabama Realm's records and never disclosed to the membership. Roosevelt said he had not known of the membership.[^9] Black answered in a radio statement on October 1, 1937. He said, "I did join the Klan. I later resigned. I never rejoined." He also said, "I have never resumed it and never expect to do so." The *Post-Gazette* reported an audience of about fifty million listeners.[^9] Late in life Black called joining the Klan a mistake. He said, "I would have joined any group if it helped get me votes."[^9] The record therefore holds two accounts side by side. One is Black's own 1937 statement that he never rejoined. The other is the *Post-Gazette*'s reporting that he rejoined in 1926.[^1] ## Legacy *Time* magazine put Black on its cover twice: on August 26, 1935, as a senator, and on October 9, 1964, as a justice.[^10] The United States Postal Service issued a 5¢ Great Americans stamp of Black in 1986. He and [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.]] were the only associate justices so honored until stamps for [[Thurgood Marshall]], [[Joseph Story]], [[Louis Brandeis]], Felix Frankfurter and [[William J. Brennan Jr.]] followed.[^10] In 1987 Congress passed a law sponsored by Alabama representative Ben Erdreich. It named the new federal courthouse in Birmingham the "Hugo L. Black United States Courthouse".[^10] The Library of Congress Manuscript Division holds his personal, senatorial and judicial papers. A monument to him was dedicated in Ashland on October 15, 2022.[^10] Black's tenure of thirty-four years is the sixth longest in the Court's history. He was the Court's longest-serving justice for twenty-five years, from Chief Justice Stone's death on April 22, 1946, to September 17, 1971. He served twice as acting chief justice. The first period ran from Stone's death until June 24, 1946. The second ran from Chief Justice Vinson's death on September 8, 1953, until Warren took office on October 5, 1953.[^10] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), lead — dates of life and office, party, Klan membership and 1937 statement, principal opinions, incorporation and First Amendment positions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black [^2]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), lead — confirmation vote of 63 to 16, with six Democrats and ten Republicans opposed; first of nine Roosevelt appointees. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black [^3]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Early years" — birth, education, practice, police court and prosecutor posts, Army service. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black [^4]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Senate career" — 1926 and 1932 elections, air mail and lobbying inquiries, committee chairmanship. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black [^5]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Appointment to the Supreme Court" — vacancy, candidates, nomination of August 12, 1937, Judiciary Committee referral. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black [^6]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Supreme Court career" — judicial restraint, 1939 appointments, senior associate justice 1945–1971, *Jewell Ridge* dispute. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black [^7]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Jurisprudence" — three components, influence, 1968 statement, *Adamson v. California*. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black [^8]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Retirement and death" — retirement September 17, 1971; death September 25, 1971; funeral, burial, successor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black [^9]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Ku Klux Klan and anti-Catholicism" — Sprigle series from September 13, 1937; radio statement of October 1, 1937; late-life statement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black [^10]: Wikipedia contributors, *Hugo Black* (revision 1373671073, retrieved 2026-10-26), "Legacy" — *Time* covers, 1986 stamp, 1987 courthouse law, papers, 2022 monument, tenure and acting chief justice dates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Black