“G. Edward White, as a prominent biographer, Supreme Court historian, and legal scholar, is uniquely qualified to cut through the clouds of incense which have so long obscured the figure of Justice Holmes. His analysis and revaluation of the man, the warrior, the judge, the ‘liberal’ philosopher, and even the lover reveal a Holmes who is much more human, more fallible, more interesting, and even in some ways more admirable than the superman usually depicted.” Thus opined the great American novelist Louis Auchincloss on the dust jacket of Professor White’s biography of Justice Holmes.
I can quite comfortably say, that finding something admirable to write about Justice Holmes, after reading this exhaustive and revelatory biography is a challenge that I cannot meet. I could start with the sad assertion that the person of O.W. Holmes was permanently scared by his participation in Civil War: in fact I would argue that his humanity was eviscerated by his experience.Wounded three times, at one point almost mortally, he, I would argue, was changed,utterly, by that experience of the carnage, the human devastation that was felt for generations in American lives. He was as much a casualty of that conflict as so many others: existentially and politically. Talented, ambitious, hard working and always self-serving,a Boston Brahman tradition, his life story is fascinating in its near banality- the Civil War being the only exceptional episode. The man,the warrior,the judge, the liberal philosopher,the lover is ,for me the misanthrope,the misogynist, the political and moral cynic, a follower of the notorious Social Darwinist Herbert Spencer and his Social Statics.
Here is a quote from page 405 of Professor White’s biography- the case Buck v. Bell:
‘We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives.It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices,often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence.It is better for all the world ,if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or let them starve for their imbecility,society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind.The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes…. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.’
Page 408:
‘He wrote Lewis Einstein in 1927, after the Buck decision,that ‘establishing the constitutionality of a law permitting the sterilization of imbeciles…gave me pleasure.’ And he wrote to Laski that when he wrote the opinion the Buck case he ‘felt that I was getting near to the first principle of reform.’
Legal secular Saint or Monster? By any ethical measure, using 19th,20th or 21st century standards this is rife with a malicious destructive paternalism, not speak of pure, unadulterated social prejudice. Perhaps Justice Holmes shares a philosophical commonality with Justices Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas, although these four Justices partake and express the values of an American Political Romanticism, that is, perhaps, a more sophisticated expression of the look backwards, a radical political nostalgia, to identifiable or even invented ‘Originalist” precursors.
I can quite comfortably say, that finding something admirable to write about Justice Holmes, after reading this exhaustive and revelatory biography is a challenge that I cannot meet. I could start with the sad assertion that the person of O.W. Holmes was permanently scared by his participation in Civil War: in fact I would argue that his humanity was eviscerated by his experience.Wounded three times, at one point almost mortally, he, I would argue, was changed,utterly, by that experience of the carnage, the human devastation that was felt for generations in American lives. He was as much a casualty of that conflict as so many others: existentially and politically. Talented, ambitious, hard working and always self-serving,a Boston Brahman tradition, his life story is fascinating in its near banality- the Civil War being the only exceptional episode. The man,the warrior,the judge, the liberal philosopher,the lover is ,for me the misanthrope,the misogynist, the political and moral cynic, a follower of the notorious Social Darwinist Herbert Spencer and his Social Statics.
Here is a quote from page 405 of Professor White’s biography- the case Buck v. Bell:
‘We have seen more than once that the public welfare may call upon the best citizens for their lives.It would be strange if it could not call upon those who already sap the strength of the State for these lesser sacrifices,often not felt to be such by those concerned, in order to prevent our being swamped with incompetence.It is better for all the world ,if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or let them starve for their imbecility,society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind.The principle that sustains compulsory vaccination is broad enough to cover cutting the Fallopian tubes…. Three generations of imbeciles are enough.’
Page 408:
‘He wrote Lewis Einstein in 1927, after the Buck decision,that ‘establishing the constitutionality of a law permitting the sterilization of imbeciles…gave me pleasure.’ And he wrote to Laski that when he wrote the opinion the Buck case he ‘felt that I was getting near to the first principle of reform.’
Legal secular Saint or Monster? By any ethical measure, using 19th,20th or 21st century standards this is rife with a malicious destructive paternalism, not speak of pure, unadulterated social prejudice. Perhaps Justice Holmes shares a philosophical commonality with Justices Roberts, Alito, Scalia and Thomas, although these four Justices partake and express the values of an American Political Romanticism, that is, perhaps, a more sophisticated expression of the look backwards, a radical political nostalgia, to identifiable or even invented ‘Originalist” precursors.
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