Stone, Harlan Fiske (1872–1946)

US jurist. He was associate justice to the US Supreme Court 1925–41 and chief justice 1941–46 under President Roosevelt. During World War II he authored opinions favouring federal war powers and the regulation of aliens.

Born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, USA, Stone graduated from Amherst College and Columbia University School of Law. He practised in New York City and taught at Columbia, serving as dean of the law school 1910–23. President Coolidge appointed Stone US attorney general 1924 and to the US Supreme Court 1925.

As an associate justice, Stone favoured judicial restraint, the making of decisions on constitutional rather than personal grounds. He dissented from numerous conservative decisions opposing President F D Roosevelt's New Deal legislation. He supported voting rights and the use of the Constitution's commerce clause to justify federal legislation regulating interstate commerce.