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The Meaning of Liberalism

I am glad to join with you in honoring your guest of honor, David J. Lowis. He has been an inspiration to forward looking people everywhere for a generation. I have long respected his example and valued his friendship. Likewise, I am glad to speak to a group whose purpose, as I am informed, is to be liberals without ceasing to be Democrats, and to be Democrats without ceasing to be liberals.

The Challenge to the Christian Conscience

The plight of the Jews in the world today is a challenge to the Christian conscience to make good the promise of a Jewish National Home in Palestine. America contributed to the success of the Allies in the World War. She sought nothing for herself- she sought only to establish the conditions of a permanent peace and justice to disadvantaged peoples.

Striking at the Roots of Crime

This evening's meeting is called under most appropriate leadership. Your Presiding Officer (Mrs. Roosevelt) has not only evidenced a desire to improve the lot of her fellow citizens but also a long established interest in improving the methods of correcting their delinquencies. Few of you realize, I suspect, that Mrs. Roosevelt has probably visited personally as many prisons as any woman in America.

Trade Barriers – A Threat to National Unity

Our forefathers believed that exclusive control by Congress of commerce among the several States made certain that such trade would not be obstructed by State barriers. But today we witness a growing tendency to erect what are, in substance, State tariff walls. State laws which make the marketing of goods more difficult or expensive have been steadily increasing in both numbers and variety. Between neighboring States discrimination and retaliation, rivalries and reprisals have flared up.

Progress in Federal Judicial Administration

We have heard much discussion about the declining of prestige of the bar, and about the proper place of the lawyer in the leadership of his community, state, and nation. But there can be no denial that it is the duty of the lawyers to lead in affairs affecting the courts of the land. The lawyer is peculiarly qualified to judge their work and to deal out criticism where it is due- and to do it with fairness.

Maryland at the Supreme Court Bar

So I shall ask you to bear with us while we indulge our lawyerly trait of discussing law suits. We shall prefer to discuss our own rather than to discuss those which some other men may have tried. In studying constitutional issues in the Supreme Court I became vaguely aware that Maryland has been one of the most frequent of its litigants and had participated in some of the most significant cases which have shaped our constitutional doctrine. I have taken this occasion to review the Supreme Court annals to see how well, by its record in litigation, Maryland has vindicated its designation as "The Free State".

Problem of the Administrative Process

There has been one disappointment in connection with my coming here. I had hoped that I would be able to bring with me and deliver the commission to Ryan Duffy as judge of the district court of the United States. (Applause) It would have been a great pleasure had the senate moved fast enough so that that could have been done. Those are minor disappointments, for I know the commission will arrive by mail in due time, and that while I will be denied the satisfaction of being present when he takes the oath, many of the rest of you will have that pleasure.

Briefless Barristers and Lawyerless Clients

No greater misfortune can befall us than to have our leading lawyers become so preoccupied with individual practice that they fail to recognize difficulties gathering for the whole profession. Something like this has happened to the medical profession and may well be happening to lawyers.

Back to the Constitution

One of the great achievements of the Renaissance was the rediscovery of the classic. Men began to go behind the gloss to the text. I think that we are having something of a constitutional Renaissance at the present time- a rediscovery of the Constitution.

Product of the Present Day Law School

A canny old lawyer friend of mine made a practice of trying to explain his most complex legal problems to some intelligent- and, of course, patient- layman. He said he wanted to test his expert judgments by getting the reactions of an untrained mind.