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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.

Your Business and Your Government

I am glad to discuss the relations of business and government before business men of Rochester because the experience of no city better illustrates what I want to talk about. There is no better illustration of the kind of business which this nation ought to foster than the kind of business you have fostered here. And there is no better illustration of the kind of business that is a menace to the United States than the kind of business which you do not encourage in Rochester.

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.

Little Americanism

Joe Kennedy remarked the other day that the trouble with this country is that it has too many persons who are specialists in other people's business. Maybe he meant editors -- maybe lawyers. We have this at least in common, that we both take great liberty with the affairs of the public. And I am indebted to the press for so many suggestions about my work that I must begin payment by returning a few hints about yours.

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.

Call for a Liberal Bar

The history of progress in society is a story of struggle for better law. We do not achieve improvement merely by recording a vote of the people. Their action must be reduced from political principle to a legal rule or an institution. It has been one of the tasks of lawyers to translate the aspirations of our people into law, and into living institutions. In this their function has been vital to progress, and the call for their service is a continuing one.

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.

Democracy’s Race Against Time

There are particular reasons why I am grateful for this opportunity to speak tonight to the Young Democratic Club of New York and this gathering of well wishers. Other speakers have referred to the honor conferred upon me by nomination for the high office of Solicitor General of the Unites States. The Solicitor General is the chief advocate for public causes before the Supreme Court of the United States. The office is probably the only office every lawyer happy in the work of his profession covets.

Back to the American Way

This meeting with the nationally famous Commonwealth Club of California is the high spot of my trip across the continent. I have driven for the purpose of getting a more intimate view of the towns and various countrysides which make up the great nation whose cases before the Supreme Court are my responsibility, I have often said that everyone in official life should be compelled to spend every third week at home -- wherever that is -- so as to get the tonic of life as it really is, to relieve the political high blood pressure that always affects Washington, and which at about this season is apt to make its victims a little hysterical.