Holmes and Realism

[Sean Wilson]

... LOL!  I thought you were taking a jab at me for posting my own lectures to support my own view, which, I confess, would warrant such a jab. I almost wanted to say "hey i'm not that young anymore anyway!"

Yours, paranoid as always.  
 
Dr. Sean Wilson, Esq.
Assistant Professor
Wright State University
Redesigned Website: http://seanwilson.org
SSRN papers: http://ssrn.com/author=596860
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________________________________
From: "davidebernstein at aol.com" <davidebernstein at aol.com>
To: whoooo26505 at yahoo.com; conlawprof at lists.ucla.edu
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 4:21:47 PM
Subject: Re: Holmes and Realism


Sean, interesting.

Just FYI, the age remark was a reference to youngish adherents to sociological jurisprudence and then legal realism, who wanted to use Holmes's reputation to bolster the credibility of their own views, and who therefore invented a version of Holmes that wasn't always consistent with the actual Holmes.  Later, New Deal period civil libertarians did this as well, turning the Holmes of Buck v. Bell and the dissent in Bailey v. Alabama in to a great civil libertarian.  But if someone asked, "How is the reputation Holmes has had as a great civil libertarian consistent with his views in cases like Bell and Bailey", the answer would be that Holmes never expressed much interest in civil liberties beyond freedom of expression (and there somewhat reluctantly, and belatedly), and the reputation of Holmes has little to do with the actual Holmes, and a lot to do with legal innovators wanting to use Holmes to support their cause.


      
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