Bernard Schwartz

Background

Bernard Schwartz was born on August 25, 1923, in New York City, New York, United States.

Education

Schwartz graduated Phi Beta Kappa from City College of New York and received his Bachelor of Laws degree from New York University in 1944. He received his Master of Laws from Harvard University in 1945, a doctorate in 1947 and a Doctor of Laws from Cambridge University in 1956. He later also earned a doctorate from the University of Paris.

Career

Schwartz joined the faculty of New York University in 1947 but took a leave during the 1950s to work on a special House of Representatives committee investigating misconduct in federal regulatory agencies. He was dismissed when his eagerness annoyed some House members, but his work led to an FBI inquiry. He detailed these events in The Professor and the Commissions (1959). Returning to New York University’s Law School, he was appointed Webb Professor in 1963 and held onto the post for thirty years before retiring and moving to the University of Tulsa Law School, where he was Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law.

Achievements

• During his career, Schwartz wrote more than 60 books, most of them in print, and hundreds of articles, about subjects ranging from the Napoleonic Code to Federal regulatory agencies. But his best-known writings focused on the Supreme Court and the mysteries behind the Justices and their thoughts.
  
  Schwartz' major works include A Basic History of the U.S. Supreme Court (1968), The Fourteenth Amendment; A Century in American Law and Life (1970), From Confederation to Nation: The American Constitution, 1835-1877 (1973), American Heritage History of the Law in America (1974), The Great Rights of Mankind: A History of the American Bill of Rights (1977), The Unpublished Opinions of the Warren Court (1985), Swann’s Way: The School Busing Case and the Supreme Court (1986), Behind Bakke: The Supreme Court and Affirmative Action (1988), Unpublished Opinions of the Burger Court (1988), Unpublished Opinions of the Rehnquist Court (1996), Decision: How the Supreme Court Decides Cases (1996), The Warren Court: A Retrospective (1997), Reason and Passion: Justice Brennan’s Enduring Influence (1997), and A Book of Legal Lists: The Best and Worst in American Law with 150 Court and Judge Trivia Questions (1997).
  
  A week before his death, his speech from the Supreme Court chamber, Earl Warren: Super Chief in Action, was televised by the cable television station covering congressional events, C-Span.

Works

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  • The Great Rights of Mankind

    (A history of the origins and ratification of the first te...)

    1977
  • Swann's Way

    (A fascinating work of microhistory, the book will be of c...)

    1986
  • A History of the Supreme Court

    (In the remarkable account, Schwartz provides the definiti...)

    1995
  • Main Currents in American Legal Thought

    (This work is the legal counterpart to Parrington's classi...)

    1993
  • A Basic History of the U.S. Supreme Court 1968
  • Behind Bakke 1988
  • American Heritage History of the Law in America 1975
  • A Basic History of the U. S. Supreme Court 1968
  • Administrative Law 1994
  • Administrative Law 1984

Personality

Physical Characteristics: Schwartz was struck by a car after stepping off a bus on his way to a restaurant and never regained consciousness.

Connections

Schwartz was married to Aileen Haas. The couple had one son, Brian.

Wife:

Aileen Haas Schwartz

Son:

Brian Schwartz