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Benjamin Cardozo was born in New York
City. He sat on the bench of the New York
Court of Appeals from 1913 until 1932 and
in the United States Supreme Court from
1932 until 1938. He handed down important
opinions on congressional power, control
of interstate commerce, and the
relationship of the Bill of Rights to
states' rights. He was general liberal,
and favored greater involvement of courts
in public policy.
It has been said of Justice Cardozo,
that "by the magic of his pen, he
transmuted law into justice." He was one
of the greatest American philosophers of
law; chief judge of the Supreme Court of
the State of New York for more than ten
years; Justice of the Supreme Court of the
United States, and recipient of many
honorary degrees.
Justice, to Cardozo, was "a concept far
more subtle and indefinite than any that
is yielded by mere obedience to a rule. It
remains, to some extent, when all is said
and done, the synonym of an aspiration, a
mood of exaltation, a yearning for what is
fine and high."
Despite all his sensitivity to the
indefinite, Cardozo was also a thinker
whose profundity never excluded clear and
distinct concepts and definitions. He was
aware of the paradoxes and tensions of his
profession, yet remained capable of
viewing things with plain and simple
common sense. He always tried to
synthesize law and life, by comprehending
the stream of historical life and the
chaotic drives of social and economic
forces. He was conscious of the necessity
for adapting existing forms to newly
emergent trends.
Cardozo was not a radical, but he was
imbued with the spirit of democracy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, upon the death of
Cardozo, called this scholar and wise man,
a "great soul." Cardozo was devoted to the
welfare of the nation, defended the rights
of the individual, strove for harmony
between contradictory interests staunchly
opposed selfish interests, and was a
courageous fighter for liberty and
truth.
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