Henry Friendly - Legacy

Legacy

In a ceremony following Judge Friendly's death, Chief Justice of the United States, Warren E. Burger, said, "In my 30 years on the bench, I have never known a judge more qualified to sit on the Supreme Court."

At the same ceremony, Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall called Judge Friendly "a man of the law."

In a letter to the editor of The New York Times following Judge Friendly's obituary, Judge Jon O. Newman called Judge Friendly "quite simply the pre-eminent appellate judge of his era " who "authored the definitive opinions for the nation in each area of the law that he had occasion to consider."

In a statement after Judge Friendly's death, Judge Wilfred Feinberg, the 2nd Circuit's Chief Judge at the time, called Judge Friendly "one of the greatest Federal judges in the history of the Federal bench."

Richard A. Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, described Judge Friendly as "the most distinguished judge in this country during his years on the bench."

Harvard Law School has a professorship named after Judge Friendly. Paul C. Weiler, a Canadian constitutional law scholar, held it from 1993 to 2006; William J. Stuntz, a scholar of criminal law and procedure, held it from 2006 until his death in March 2011.

The Federal Bar Council awarded Judge Friendly a Certificate of Distinguished Judicial Service posthumously in 1986.

The American Law Institute has an award named in memory of Judge Friendly and endowed by his former law clerks.