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Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark Autograph Letter Signed Explains His Reasons For Resigning From the Supreme Court

Believes President Lyndon Johnson's 1967 Appointment of His Son Ramsey Clark as Attorney General Creates Perception of Conflict of Interest

"I believe it would be best for me to retire - litigants have enough problems without having a father - son psychology to face. And while there is no actual conflict the potential is there and the appearance of justice is as important and effective as the real thing." 

  
Justice Tom Clark

Ramsey Clark and President Johnson

In this item Supreme Court Justice Tom Clark on a United States Supreme Court letterhead card explains in his own handwriting his reasons for resigning from the Supreme Court. Supreme Court resignations usually occur only as a result of ill health, but in this case there was a much more interesting historic reason: the President of the United States earlier that month had appointed his son to be the highest ranking legal officer of the executive branch of government! While he did not have to, Justice Clark took the high road, and resigned to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest because actions of the federal government, including those counseled by or taken by his son, could be reviewed by the Supreme Court. Moreover, Ramsey Clark as Attorney General also had the option of appearing before the Court to argue a case as his father had done when he was Attorney General under President Truman. The letter is dated March 27 [1967] but Clark did not actually resign until June 12, 1967, so this may have been one of his first letters announcing his decision..

Below is the full text of Clark's handwritten letter on  both sides of the 6 x 4 1/2 inch Supreme Court card:

"Dear Lorrell:- Thanks so much for your kind letter and your generous words. I believe it would be best for me to retire - litigants have enough problems without having a father - son psychology to face. And while there is no actual conflict the potential is there and the appearance of justice is as important and effective as the real thing.

Perhaps it will give us more time in which to see operas and the like. If it does, that will be further compensation.

We hope that you had a good trip to Palm Beach and that if you come here you will give us a ring. With every good wish, Your friend, Tom Clark"

Tom Clark is probably most famous for three things, 1) as an Assistant Attorney General he helped to relocate Japanese citizens into internment camps during World War II , 2) as Attorney General he vigorously hunted down and prosecuted Communists,  and 3) writing the Supreme Court opinion ruling that prayer in schools was unconstitutional (Abington School District v. Schempp, 1963). His son as President Johnson's Attorney General oversaw the prosecution of the Boston Five for “conspiracy to aid and abet draft resistance,” including Dr. Benjamin Spock and Yale chaplain William Sloane Coffin Jr.  After leaving government service Ramsey Clark became infamous as a left wing activist and opponent of all American military interventions, from Vietnam to Iraq, and has recently taken on the assignment as counsel to Iraqi dictator Sadaam Hussein.

The autograph letter signed by Justice Clark is a rare historic artifact of a sitting Justice explaining his intent to resign and it would make a nice addition to a legal or American history collection.

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