Dr. Timothy Huebner, the Irma O. Sternberg Professor of History, has an essay featured on SCOTUSblog–the blog of the Supreme Court of the United States. Titled “Memphis and the Making of Justice Fortas,” the essay provides history about the early life of Abe Fortas, a Rhodes alumnus who served as U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice from 1965 to 1969.
Andrew Hamm has posted on the SCOTUSblog: “Huebner’s new research presents a different side to this man, who ‘grew up in an immigrant Jewish family of modest means in Memphis,’ but who is ‘often portrayed as a consummate Washington insider.’” Read more.
The essay was originally published in the Journal of Supreme Court History. Huebner also focuses on the Tennessee roots of Fortas’ approach to three constitutional values— justice for the poor, freedom for religious minorities, and civil rights for African Americans. At Rhodes, Huebner teachers a variety of courses dealing with the history of the U.S. Constitution and the history of the American South as well The Supreme Court in U.S. History special topics course.