“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it . . . while it lies there, it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it.” 

“What then is the spirit of liberty? I cannot define it; I can only tell you my own faith. The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which seeks to understand the minds of other men and women; the spirit of liberty is the spirit which weighs their interests alongside its own without bias; the spirit of liberty remembers that not even a sparrow falls to earth unheeded; the spirit of liberty is the spirit of Him who, near two thousand years ago, taught mankind that lesson it has never learned, but has never quite forgotten; that there may be a kingdom where the least shall be heard and considered side by side with the greatest.”

jurist Learned Hand (1944)

While we enlist our reason and heart to understand our fellow Americans, we prevail.

Billings Learned Hand January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American judge and judicial philosopher. He served on the United States District Courth for the Southern District of New York and later the United States Courth of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Hand has been quoted more often by legal scholars and by the Supreme Court of the United States than any other lower-court judge.—Wikipedia

He married Bryn Mawr graduate Frances Amelia Fincke and they had three daughters who posed for painter Maxfield Parrish. Hand demands respect for his defense of free speech and support of equity under the law, his public discretion and private struggles to protect this nation and our Constitution against all comers. A lifelong republican, he cautiously supported FDR’s election as President and fought for justice and fairness throughout his life.