Abstract
Twenty years ago Professor Walter B. Kennedy warned against the impending breakdown of constitutional and common law, the erosion of the doctrine of stare decisis, and the skepticism regarding legal principles. Pragmatism As a Philosophy of Law (1925) 9 Marquette L. Rev. 63. Since then his writing has been devoted principally to the thesis that the above stated evils have been increasing down the years. In the present article Professor Kennedy deals with the latest and most startling phase of the crumbling of legal precedents and case-law—the frank disclosure by members of the Supreme Court of their departure from principles and precedents, a confusion and dissent in decisions unparalleled in Supreme Court history. His paper is timely and provocative; it attempts to make articulate the feelings of a lawyer and layman regarding the present situation; it is also constructive. The Fordham Law Review believes that the subject matter opens up a problem of gravest importance and invites comment to the end that ours may continue to be a government of laws and not of men.
Recommended Citation
Walter B. Kennedy,
Portrait of the New Supreme Court,
13 Fordham L. Rev. 1
(1944).
Available at: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/flr/vol13/iss1/1