Subject Guide – Law

Late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the first Jewish woman to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court, once noted: “There is an age-old connection between Judaism and law. For centuries, rabbis and other Jewish scholars studied, re-studied, and ceaselessly interpreted the Talmud, producing a vast corpus of juridical writing, which to many was the very heart of the Jewish religious tradition.” Though American Jews have always been drawn to the legal profession, discriminatory practices, including quotas placed on the number of Jewish students admitted to law schools and antisemitic hiring practices from prestigious law firms, made this difficult through the mid-20th century. It was not until 1916 that the first Jewish justice—Louis D. Brandeis—was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Notable Jewish lawyers and judges represented in the JHC collections include civic and communal leader Leon Obermeyer (1886-1984), Zionist organizer and lawyer Elihu Stone (1888-1952), and the first woman justice of the Massachusetts Superior Court, Jennie Loitman Barron (1891-1969).

For all collections in the JHC Archives related to this subject, click on the link below:

"The Jewish Law Firm: Past and Present" by Eli Wald
Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court: From Brandeis to Kagan by David G. Dalin
Jewish Biographies: U.S. Supreme Court Justices - Jewish Virtual Library