I know an attorney that would agree. He says: Justice has it's place in the courtroom.-40hz
A Supreme Court Justice would disagree: "This is a court of law, young man, not a court of justice." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
-Deozaan
I think he meant it in the same way a 13th century baron believed a lively and ongoing debate about the rights of his tenants had a place in village discourse. And
that place was up on a scaffold, begging for mercy, with a hangman in attendance.
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re: Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. - Interesting guy. And a colorful S.C. Justice. But way too cynical for his (or our) own good at times.
This was the same judge that authored the majority opinion in a case (Buck v Bell) supporting a State's right to sterilize someone deemed an "imbecile" (i.e. mental capabilities below what was deemed an acceptable level of intelligence) against their will. He justified his decision by closing with this less frequently quoted statement:
Three generations of imbeciles are enough.Less than 20 years later, justices from the United States, along with their counterparts from Britain, France, and the Soviet Union would sentence Dr Karl Brandt, Viktor Brack, and seven other Nazi officials to death for their role in the infamous "T4" euthanasia program. T4 documented and systematically murdered somewhere around 200,000 physically or mentally handicapped people deemed unfit to live in human society.
Apparently some other people shared Justice Holmes pragmatic vision of how to make a more perfect world.
Nice to see the rest of the world was a bit more interested in justice than in the letter of law.