Frank, John Paul

▪ 2003

      American lawyer (b. Nov. 10, 1917, Appleton, Wis.—d. Sept. 7, 2002, Scottsdale, Ariz.), was involved in two of the most important U.S. Supreme Court cases of the second half of the 20th century: Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), in which school segregation was declared unconstitutional, and Miranda v. Arizona (1966), which established police procedures for handling criminal suspects. He was an adviser to Thurgood Marshall, who argued the segregation case before the court, and he represented Ernesto Miranda, who had not been advised of his rights by the police. In addition, Frank represented Arizona in a 1952 case in which the waters of the Colorado River were divided with California, and he took on several political causes, which included opposing the confirmation of Robert H. Bork as a Supreme Court justice in 1987 and advising Anita Hill in her testimony in 1991 against another court nominee, Clarence Thomas. Frank also taught law, and he was the author of 11 books.

* * *