Wanted: Dead Or Alive
Today's pick: Oliver Wendell Holmes. Despite being perhaps the least empathetic person ever to sit on the United States Supreme Court [1902-1932], Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. remains a progressive icon.
Holmes’ less-than-compassionate disposition did not prevent him from penning famous dissents in Lochner v. New York , in which Holmes famously wrote that "a Constitution is not intended to embody a particular economic theory" and Abrams v. United States, in which Holmes accused the majority of punishing political dissidents for their opinions rather than their actions. It's no wonder he earned the nickname "The Great Dissenter."
Holmes’ less-than-compassionate disposition did not prevent him from penning famous dissents in Lochner v. New York , in which Holmes famously wrote that "a Constitution is not intended to embody a particular economic theory" and Abrams v. United States, in which Holmes accused the majority of punishing political dissidents for their opinions rather than their actions. It's no wonder he earned the nickname "The Great Dissenter."