SOURCE: "Three Great Judges: Holmes, Brandeis, Cardozo," in The Faith of a Liberal, Transaction Publishers, 1993, pp. 20-45.

In the following excerpt, Cohen praises Cardozo as an inspirational force whose humanitarian philosophy, sensitivity to conflicting interests, and adaptation to changing social conditions profoundly influenced the legal profession. Cohen's commentary on Cardozo was originally published in National Guild Quarterly in 1938.

A man's philosophy, his view of life, grows out of his own experience at the same time that it reveals his work.

Perhaps the most significant fact about Justice Cardozo's career is the way in which he achieved the almost unanimous reverence and affection of the whole nation. Extreme conservatives as well as the most advanced liberals urged his appointment to the Supreme Court for the vacancy occasioned by the retirement of Justice Holmes. Surely it is significant to ask how Benjamin Cardozo came to have this hold upon our...