The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-06-03
Liberal Viewpoint
BY DIR. HARRY ELMER BARNES

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IF there is one public figure who has measured
Il up to the high expectations entertained by
his Wel'Wishers, it is Mr. Justice CarCOzo of the
United States Supreme Court He has been con-
sstenty enlightened and liberal in his atti-
tude toward nearly every major case since he
entered the Supreme Court In one important
instance he dared 20 stand alone in a ringing
dissent. In spite of his unfortunate lapse in
the NRA case a court constituted of nine men
like unto him might make august tribunal
a guide to social progress rather than a brake
and a drag upon social justice and human de-
velopment.
Hence, we may welcome the splendid biog-
raphy and legal analysis presented by Joseph
P. Pollard in his "Mr. Justice Cardozo Liberal
Mind in Action" yorktown Press, So. Mr.. Pol
lard gives us the following discerning picture of
this great lawyer and judge
"A gentle, modest man sits on the extreme
left of the Chief Justice of the w ted States.
AS he listens intently to the arguments of coun-
sell he radates atmosphere of benevolence
and wisdom. Every one in the austere court
room, judges and lawyers alike, pay him the
homage of warm goodwill and admiration Dor
dering awe. Confidence in the just decision
dlspels doubt.
"TT is a feeling which could only be directed
i toward a man whose great talents in the
law had been heralded far and wide before his
accession to the high tribunal. Liberals and
conservatives both see something to applaud IN
the record and attainments of Mr.. Justice Car
dozo; for humanity and honor and fair play,
woven into the law through the loom of
prodigious learning, an understanding of mod
ern human needs and vivid and striking
power of expression leave their mark even upon
lawyers who primarily concerned with fur
thering clients dubious wants.
The American judiciary has seldom been
graced with the presence of a man who COM
bines the talents Of philosopher, poet and
lawyer Lawyers by their very training, tend to
emphasize precedent and glorify the past, and
judges who are merely lawyers aften fail to
relate the law to the life around them and be-
come a hindrance rather than an aid TO social
development. They tend, moreover, to write
their archaic views in a stuffy and heavy style
not clear even to a profession we'll initiated in
abracadabra and making an neXact science
seem still more intangible Thus darkness
reigns and the heavy hand of the past falls
upon laymen cropping for light and progress.
This only be dispeled by judges who
are able to see history and tradition as means
rather than an end who can relate past de-
ciSions to the needs of today and tomorrow
who can see the law the servant instead Of
the master Of man. and who can make their
views both clear and convincing
TN this latter and far rarer group, the name
Il of Benjamin Nathan Cardozo shines forth
proach to mans troubles, and by his phiosophic
awareness of the functions of a judge he is able
Ito bring order out of the confusion which
attends the solution of litigants' claims"
main reason why Justice Cardozo has meas
ured up to the ideal conceptions of a judge is
that he has been a profound student of history
and the social sciences. He has gone back Of
musty statutes to the fountain springs of human
and social action. This indispensable back
ground of vital Jurisprudence is assembled and
analyzed in convenient form by Huntington
Cairns IN his timely and important book Law
and the Social Sciences" (Harcourt Brace; so
The main explanation of why Americans have
tolerated the sabotage of progress in the name of
law is 10 be found in absurd and mystical
conception Of constitutions and conStitutionaty.
Why we have come to entertain such fancifu
illusions is explained with learning and sound
sense by Prof H. Arnold Bennett in his The
Constitution in School and College" putnam,
$3.50, one of the most Illuminating works ever
written on the Constitution in this country.
Friends of progreSsivism should assure it wide
circulation to offset the countless silly tones
written by conventional constitution mongers.