Scholars have portrayed Felix Frankfurter as a judicial failure, a liberal lawyer turned conservative justice, and the Warren Court’s principal villain. Brad Snyder argues that none of these characterizations ring true. A pro-government, pro-civil rights liberal who rejected shifting political labels, Frankfurter advocated for judicial restraint―he believed that people should seek change not from the courts but through the democratic political process. He knew American presidents from Theodore Roosevelt to Lyndon Johnson, advised Franklin Roosevelt, and inspired his students and law clerks to enter government service. Organized around presidential administrations and major political and world events, this definitive biography chronicles Frankfurter’s impact on American life.