Alexander Bickel

Alexander Mordecai Bickel (December 17, 1924 – November 8, 1974) was a law professor and expert on the United States Constitution. One of the most influential constitutional commentators of the twentieth century, his writings emphasize judicial restraint. Bickel was born to Jewish parents (Solomon and Yetta Bickel), originally from Bucharest, Romania, who had immigrated to Brooklyn, NY. He graduated from Harvard Law School summa cum laude. He served as a law clerk to Justice Felix Frankfurter of the Supreme Court of the United States in the 1952 term, preparing a historical memorandum urging that Brown v. Board of Education be reargued. Starting in 1956, he taught at Yale Law School until his death. With Charles Black, he forged what...