Austin, Texas — Nov. 2, 2023
The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin is pleased to announce that it has received the papers of legal scholar James F. Simon. The preeminent historian of the U.S. Supreme Court, Simon is the Martin Professor Emeritus of Law and Dean Emeritus at New York Law School.
“James Simon understands the tensions between chief justices and chief executives better than any other historian in the nation,” said Don Carleton, executive director of the Briscoe Center. “His research and teaching at New York Law School explore the Supreme Court across three centuries in tremendous detail. Now other scholars can learn not just from his published works, but from the extensive research materials in his papers.”
James F. Simon was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1938. He graduated from Yale College in 1961 and Yale Law School in 1964. His met his wife, Marcia, at Yale, where she was a graduate student in art history. During law school he had a summer internship at Newsweek under the tutelage of Ben Bradlee. Simon was a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for two years before becoming special legal correspondent and contributing editor for Time magazine(1969–1974). During that time, he published In His Own Image: The Supreme Court in Richard Nixon’s America (1973), which won the American Bar Association’s Silver Gavel Award.
In His Own Image was the first of Simon’s many acclaimed works on the Supreme Court, which also include Independent Journey: The Life of William O. Douglas (1980); The Center Holds: The Power Struggle Inside the Rehnquist Court (1995); Lincoln and Chief Justice Taney: Slavery, Secession, and the President’s War Powers (2006); Eisenhower vs. Warren: The Battle for Civil Rights and Liberties (2018), and What Kind of Nation: Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, and the Epic Struggle to Create a United States, which was a 2002 New York Times “Notable Book.”
“I’ve devoted my professional career to studying, teaching, and writing about the Supreme Court, placing this vital institution in the larger context of American history,” said Simon. “I hope that having my papers at the Briscoe Center will enhance understanding of the Supreme Court for students, scholars, and interested members of the public.”
The Simon papers include research notes, page proofs, and interview transcripts from Simon’s works, as well as articles, speeches, lectures and other materials related to publicity efforts and book tours. Notable collection highlights include correspondence and interviews with Supreme Court justices Blackmun, Brennan, Ginsburg, O’Connor, Powell, and Stevens as well as former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Restricted items (to be made available for research in the future) include privately conducted interviews with Supreme Court justices.
“I’ve been privileged to have interviewed and corresponded with many members of the modern Supreme Court, enabling me to present in-depth profiles of the justices in my books as well as insights into their decisions that have become the lay of land,” Simon said. “I’m extremely pleased to place this collection of my papers at the Briscoe Center.”
