Cardozo

Author: Kaufman (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2001-05-01
Features: Kaufman's work may be the best biography of an important American judge to date. It convincingly clarifies the personal, intellectual, and experiential factors that shaped Cardozo's career, and explains the strengths and limitations of his judicial achievements. As a biography of Cardozo, the reliability and near-perfection of this book are unmatched. Since Kaufman began working on this book 40 years ago, he has read everything about Cardozo and interviewed everyone who knew him and is still alive. Despite Kaufman's admiration for Cardozo, the book is not without criticism, and it is a work of careful and thoughtful scholarship. The Life of Cardozo is authoritative. The meticulous research and consistent fairness toward its subject and issues have made this book enduring. It also has the characteristic of being accessible, largely avoiding academic jargon. The author's personal biases are absent throughout the book. In many ways, this book is a model for judicial biographies.
Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was undoubtedly one of the most distinguished judges of the 20th century, and to this day, he remains renowned, and his contributions to the law are still significant. He served as a judge on the New York Court of Appeals for many years, later becoming Chief Justice, and then joined the U.S. Supreme Court during the turbulent era of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. As a full biography of this subject, the book is an enduring masterpiece of a brilliant constitutional interpreter.
Cardozo was a progressive judge who understood and defended the proposition that the law must adapt to the conditions of modern society. He also promoted and implemented the principle of respecting precedent and history; he believed that all branches of government could limit what judges could and should do. Therefore, he did not merely update the law. In this work, Kaufman intertwines the life and career of this outstanding figure, presenting a comprehensive portrait of his subject.
Just as Cardozo's father's scandals as a lawyer and judge—ending in dismissal—affected his life, his family's and Jewish community's connections were also significant factors in his life. However, Kaufman focuses on Cardozo's extraordinary career, including his 23-year practice as a practical and skilled lawyer and his classic speeches and writings on the judicial process. This biography presents a respected figure who emphasized duty and responsibility but was not without weaknesses and biases.