” was the highest compliment he ever paid. But when it was done and published
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he asked me why the word justice was repeated. Wouldn’t it have been enough to say “justice you must actively chase after.” “Why ‘justice
in Hebrew and English. He quoted them frequently in defense of his activism. They became his mantra
who was Jewish but not well educated in Jewish religion tradition
though he used the law—sometimes stretching it beyond existing precedent—to bring about what he regarded as a just result. He was a “judicial activist”
especially those involving defendants who could not afford an adequate defense and those with serious mental illnesses. He would ask his clerks to scour the records of cases—even those not assigned to him—for evidence of injustice. He told....
and especially with prosecutors. He knew he could never win his battles by relying on current public opinion
” is how he summarized the appointment to me a few days later. Good for me
and he didn’t have close connections to the Kennedys.
Justice Felix Frankfurter resigned from the Supreme Court
where Bazelon gave us hourly updates on the Cuban Missile Crisis until it was resolved by a deal. “I misjudged those Kennedy boys
he called me back. “I’ve spoken to Abe Chayes
he said contemptuously of Joseph Kennedy. I don’t like them and I don’t trust them. Look at the way they screwed up the Bay of Pigs. A bunch of arrogant amateurs.”
one can only imagine how shocked I was when Judge Bazelon came back to the office from a lunch at the White House in mid-October and told his entire staff
Judge Bazelon came storming out of his office holding a paper and not smiling. I knew that he got advance notice of the bar results and I thought that he was coming to tell me I had flunked. Instead he shouted
no play. We had to be in the office before he arrived
but when he learned of the clubs “restricted” nature
we picked up two justices at the Supreme Court building: William O. Douglas and William Brennan. I had previously met Justice Brennan through his son Bill
Judge Bazelon invited me whenever I visited—then as a full participant).
who was a fixture of Washington life for more than 60 years.