American Minute

August 18

His legal decisions were so respected they were referenced in U.S. Supreme Court Cases.

For 40 years he served on New York's District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals before dying AUGUST 18, 1961.

His name was Learned Hand.

In 1944, during World War II, Judge Learned Hand spoke on "The Spirit of Liberty" at a program in New York's Central Park:

"What then is the spirit of liberty?

I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith...

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women;

The spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interest alongside its own without bias;

The spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded."

Judge Learned Hand continued:

"The spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, nearly two thousand years ago, taught mankind the lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten - that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest."

Judge Learned Hand wrote:

"The use of history is to tell us...past themes, else we should have to repeat, each in his own experience, the successes and the failures of our forebears."

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