The White Court (1910–21)

Criminal Justice

Who dissented in the Frank case and what was their position?

Justices Oliver Wendell Holmes and Charles Evans Hughes dissented, with Holmes writing an opinion. Holmes believed that Frank’s lawyers had raised allegations at least sufficient to require a federal court hearing to determine whether the trial was indeed dominated by a mob. “Mob law does not become due process of law by securing the assent of a terrorized jury,” he warned.