Salt of the earth, conscience of the court

the long version

Justice Wiley Rutledge (1894-1949), a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, was FDR's last appointee to the Supreme Court, where he was a leading liberal voice on the bench. In this readable and first full biography of Rutledge, Judge Ferren addresses both his life and judicial decision-making, his principled approach to liberal judicial activism, his stand on the first Japanese war crimes trial, and other civil libertarian matters where Rutledge made his mark.