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The Editor's Bag The mind of Justice Harlan, like that

of the late Justices Brewer and Peck ham, was more rugged than keen, and

better ﬁtted to cope with practical realities than with subtleties of legal reasoning and extinct lore of the books. This fact accounts for the simple, direct,

persuasive quality of his judicial opin ions, which were easily understood by the layman, and had a downrightness

that commanded the admiration of the bar for their vigor and independence. The frequency and energy of the late Judge's dissents has given rise to the

impression that he was more independ ent than most of his colleagues, but

manlier virtues.

as well as by the gentler His impressive personal pres

ence well beﬁtted the dignity of the Court, and his past accomplishments as soldier and orator increased the re spect in which he was held. John Marshall Harlan was born June 1, 1833, of Quaker ancestry on his father's side, his father being one of the foremost members of the bar of Kentucky. Justice Harlan received his

early education in Kentucky, the state of his birth, and in 1861 removed to Louisville. He had hardly become settled before the war broke out. He raised a regiment and became colonel, but after

candor is pre-eminently a judicial char

ﬁfteen months’ service in the Uniori

acteristic, and able judges who have the

Army the death of his father forced him to return home. He ran in 1871 and 1875 as Republican candidate for Governor of Kentucky, although he

courage of their convictions are rather the rule than the exception. It was not the fact that Justice Harlan had the courage of his convictions that distin guished him from his colleagues, but rather the tenacity with which he clung

knew beforehand in each case that he could not be elected. In the Republican convention of 1876

to his convictions, and the ruggedness of temperament which led him to ex press them with aggressive insistence.

he was the leader of the Kentucky dele

His was a mind less impressionable, less ﬂexible than that of most of the

A few months after Hayes’s inaugura tion he was appointed to the Supreme

other members of the Court, less easily

bench.

tempted to modify its conclusions in response to the complicated considera tions entering into the determination had no interest in the theories of a

It was Justice Harlan's ambition to serve until next June, when he would have exceeded the service of any other man who ever sat on the Supreme bench. As it was his service was

changing Constitution, of an overlapping of governmental powers, or of a public policy determined by the dictates of

longer than that of any other Justice except Chief Justice Marshall and As sociate Justice Stephen J. Field.

of every great legal controversy.

public opinion.

He

gation, and it was by his efforts that Hayes was nominated for President.

He leaned to the doc

trine of strict literal construction of the Constitution, and adhered pretty closely to views on constitutional questions

formed early in his public career. Personally Justice Harlan was a bluff yet kindly Kentucky gentleman, con

siderate of all those with whom he had contact, yet winning admiration by the

A GHASTLY MISTAKE (From the Westminster Review) “

RRAT UM.—On page 200, in the August issue of the Westminster Review, instead of ‘Not in a single in stance during a quarter of a century, has a barrister-judge been concerned in fail ures of justice,’ read ‘civilian-j udge,’ etc."