Judicial Philosophy and the Warren Court

Abstract

"There may be narrower scope for operation of the presumption of constitutionality when legislation appears on its face to be within a specific prohibition of the Constitution, such as those of the first ten amendments, which are deemed equally specific when held to be embraced within the Fourteenth.''¹ The previous quote, perhaps the most famous footnote in legal history, marked the beginning of the long overdue incorporation of the Bill of Rights to the states via the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.² Chief Justice Harlan Stone's majority opinion in U.S. v. Carolene Products (1938) produced the opinion with the above footnote attached to it. "Footnote Four" is extremely important to understanding the judicial philosophy of the Warren Court.