View source for Benjamin N. Cardozo

{{Short description|US Supreme Court justice from 1932 to 1938}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| image               = Benjamin Cardozo.jpg
| office              = [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
| nominator           = [[Herbert Hoover]]
| term_start          = March 14, 1932<!--Term start date as per www.supremecourt.gov, reflects date oath taken-->
| term_end            = July 9, 1938<ref name=SCOTUSjustices>{{cite web| url=https://www.supremecourt.gov/about/members_text.aspx| title= Justices 1789 to Present| publisher=Supreme Court of the United States| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 15, 2022}}</ref>
| predecessor         = [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.]]
| successor           = [[Felix Frankfurter]]
| office1             = [[Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals]]
| term_start1         = January 1, 1927
| term_end1           = March 7, 1932
| predecessor1        = [[Frank H. Hiscock|Frank Hiscock]]
| successor1          = [[Cuthbert W. Pound|Cuthbert Pound]]
| office2             = Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
| term_start2         = January 15, 1917
| term_end2           = December 31, 1926
| predecessor2        = [[Samuel Seabury (judge)|Samuel Seabury]]
| successor2          = [[John F. O'Brien (judge)|John F. O'Brien]]
| office3             = Justice of the [[Supreme Court of New York]] for the First Judicial Division
| term_start3         = January 5, 1914
| term_end3           = January 15, 1917 (Sitting by designation in the Court of Appeals from February 2, 1914)
| predecessor3        = [[Bartow S. Weeks]]
| successor3          = Samuel H. Ordway
| birth_name          = Benjamin Nathan Cardozo
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1870|5|24}}
| birth_place         = {{nowrap|[[New York City]], U.S.}}
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1938|7|9|1870|5|24}}
| death_place         = [[Port Chester, New York]], U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| father              = [[Albert Cardozo]]
| education           = {{nowrap|[[Columbia University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])}}
| caption             = Cardozo {{circa}} 1932
}}

'''Benjamin Nathan Cardozo''' (May 24, 1870 – July 9, 1938) was an American lawyer and [[jurist]] who served on the [[New York Court of Appeals]] from 1914 to 1932 and as an [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]] from 1932 until his death in 1938. Cardozo is remembered for his significant influence on the development of American [[common law]] in the 20th century, as well as for his philosophy and vivid prose style.

Born in [[New York City]], Cardozo passed the bar in 1891 after attending [[Columbia Law School]]. He won an election to the [[New York Supreme Court]] in 1913 but was appointed to the [[New York Court of Appeals]] the following year. He won election as chief judge of that court in 1926. As chief judge, he wrote majority opinions in cases such as ''[[Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.]]''

In 1932, President [[Herbert Hoover]] appointed Cardozo to the [[U.S. Supreme Court]] to succeed [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.]] Cardozo served on the Court until his death in 1938 and formed part of the liberal bloc of justices known as the [[Three Musketeers (Supreme Court)|Three Musketeers]]. He wrote the Court's majority opinion in notable cases such as ''[[Nixon v. Condon]]'' (1932) and ''[[Steward Machine Co. v. Davis]]'' (1937).

==Early life and family==
Cardozo, the son of Rebecca Washington (née Nathan) and [[Albert Cardozo|Albert Jacob Cardozo]],<ref name="book12">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eOJ8QbxAHOIC|title=Cardozo|last=Kaufman|first=Andrew L.| publisher=Harvard University Press| year=1998|isbn=0-674-09645-2| pages=6–9|access-date=2020-10-01| archive-date=2020-12-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201218025954/https://books.google.com/books?id=eOJ8QbxAHOIC|url-status=live}}</ref> was born in 1870 in [[New York City]]. Both Cardozo's maternal grandparents, Sara Seixas and Isaac Mendes Seixas Nathan, and his paternal grandparents, Ellen Hart and Michael H. Cardozo, were [[Western Sephardim]] of the [[Portuguese Jews|Portuguese-Jewish]] community, and affiliated with [[Manhattan]]'s [[Congregation Shearith Israel]]. Cardozo had his [[Bar and bat mitzvah|bar mitzvah]] at Shearith Israel in June of 1883.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Polenberg |first=Richard |title=The World of Benjamin Cardozo |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-674-96051-3 |pages=16–17 |language=EN}}</ref> Their ancestors had immigrated to the British colonies from [[London]], England, before the [[American Revolution]].

The family were descended from Jewish-origin [[New Christian]] [[conversos]]. They left the [[Iberian Peninsula]] for [[Holland]] during the [[Spanish Inquisition|Inquisition]].<ref name="book12"/> There they returned to the practice of [[Judaism]]. Cardozo family tradition held that their [[marrano]] (New Christians who maintained crypto-Jewish practices in secrecy) ancestors were from [[Portugal]],<ref name="book12"/> although Cardozo's ancestry has not been firmly traced to that country.<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Sherman |first1=Mark |last2=Press |first2=The Associated |date=2009-05-26 |title=First Hispanic justice? Some say it was Cardozo |url=https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-us-supreme-court-first-hispanic-052609-2009may26-story.html |access-date=2024-06-09 |website=San Diego Union-Tribune |language=en-US}}</ref> But "[[Cardoso (surname)|Cardozo]]" (archaic spelling of ''Cardoso''), "[[Seixas]]", and "[[Mendes (name)|Mendes]]" are the [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]], rather than Spanish, spelling of those common Iberian surnames.

Benjamin Cardozo had a fraternal twin, his sister Emily. They had four other siblings, including an older sister Nell and older brother.

Benjamin was named for his uncle, [[Benjamin Nathan]], a vice president of the [[New York Stock Exchange]], who was murdered in 1870. The case was never solved.<ref>{{cite book |last=Pearson |first=Edmund L. |chapter= The Twenty-Third Street Murder |title=Studies in Murder |publisher=Ohio State University Press |isbn=081425022X |pages=123–164 |year=1999 }}</ref> Among their many cousins, given their deep history in the US, was the poet [[Emma Lazarus]]. Other earlier relations include [[Francis Lewis Cardozo]] (1836–1903), [[Thomas Cardozo]], and [[Henry Cardozo]], [[free people of color|free men of color]] of [[Charleston, South Carolina]]. Francis became a Presbyterian minister in [[New Haven, Connecticut]], after education in Scotland, and was elected Secretary of State of South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. Later he worked as an educator in Washington, D.C., under a Republican administration.<ref>Richardson, Joe M. ”Francis L. Cardozo: Black educator during reconstruction”. ''Journal of Negro Education'' 48.1 (1979): 73–83.  [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2294618 in JSTOR] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727041144/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2294618 |date=2020-07-27 }}</ref>

[[Albert Cardozo]], Benjamin Cardozo's father, was a judge on the [[Supreme Court of New York]] (the state's general trial court) until 1868. He was implicated in a judicial corruption scandal sparked by the [[Erie Railway]] takeover wars and was forced to resign. The scandal also led to the creation of the [[Association of the Bar of the City of New York]]. After leaving the court, the senior Cardozo practiced law for nearly two decades more until his death in 1885.

When Benjamin and Emily were young, their mother Rebecca died. The twins were raised during much of their childhood largely by their sister Nell, who was 11 years older. Benjamin remained devoted to her throughout his life. 

===Education===
One of Benjamin's tutors was [[Horatio Alger]].<ref name="supreme court">{{cite book| title = The United States Supreme Court| author = Christopher L. Tomlins| publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin]]| year = 2005| pages = [https://archive.org/details/unitedstatessupr00toml/page/467 467]| url = https://archive.org/details/unitedstatessupr00toml| url-access = registration| access-date = 2008-10-21| isbn = 978-0-618-32969-4}}</ref> When the Cardozos engaged Alger in 1883 to tutor Benjamin and his older sister Elizabeth, they were unaware that Alger had a history of likely molesting teen boys during his time as a minister in [[Brewster, Massachusetts]], from 1864 to 1866. There is no evidence that Alger continued committing these crimes after the ones he was alleged of during his ministry, from which he was expelled in 1866 following [[Horatio_Alger#Child_sexual_abuse|an inquiry]] in which he failed to deny the boys' description of events.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Polenberg |first=Richard |title=The World of Benjamin Cardozo |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1997 |isbn=0-674-96051-3 |pages=19–24 |language=EN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Andrew L. |title=Cardozo |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-674-00192-3 |pages=25–26 |language=EN}}</ref> In reviewing Cardozo's life, Chief Judge [[Judith Kaye|Judith S. Kaye]] stated Alger provided Cardozo with a superb education, and a love of poetry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Benjamin Nathan Cardozo |url=https://history.nycourts.gov/biography/benjamin-nathan-cardozo/ |access-date=2024-06-10 |website=Historical Society of the New York Courts |language=en-US}}</ref>
 
At age 15, Cardozo entered [[Columbia University]],<ref name="supreme court"/> where he was elected to [[Phi Beta Kappa]],<ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.pbk.org/userfiles/file/Famous%20Members/PBKSupremeCourtJustices.pdf | title= Supreme Court Justices Who Are Phi Beta Kappa Members| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20110928082723/http://www.pbk.org/userfiles/file/Famous%20Members/PBKSupremeCourtJustices.pdf |archivedate=2011-09-28 | publisher= Phi Beta Kappa | website= PBK.org |  accessdate= October 4, 2009}}</ref> earning his BA in 1889 and his MA in 1890.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Columbia university alumni register, 1754-1931, compiled by the Committee on general catalogue |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.b4525470?urlappend=%3Bseq=158 |access-date=2024-02-26 |website=HathiTrust | hdl=2027/uc1.b4525470?urlappend=%3Bseq=158 |language=en}}</ref> He was admitted to [[Columbia Law School]] in 1889. Cardozo wanted to enter a profession that could enable him to support himself and his siblings, but he also hoped to restore the family name, which had been sullied by his father's actions as a judge. Cardozo left law school after two years without a law degree,<ref>{{cite journal| last = Levy| first = Beryl Harold|date= November 2007| title = Realist Jurisprudence and Prospective Overruling| journal = New York Review of Books| volume = LIV| issue = 17| pages = 10, n. 31}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia| title = Cardozo, Benjamin N| encyclopedia = Great American Judges: An Encyclopedia| year = 2003| publisher = ABC-CLIO| page= 155}}</ref> as only two years of law school was required to sit for the bar during this era in New York.

==Legal career==
===Law practice===
Cardozo passed the bar examination in 1891 and began practicing appellate law alongside his older brother.<ref name= "supreme court"/> Benjamin Cardozo practiced law in New York City until year-end 1913 with Simpson, Warren and Cardozo.<ref name="supreme court"/><ref name=Yale>{{cite encyclopedia
  | last = Pollak
  | first = Louis H.
  | author-link = Louis H. Pollak
  | editor-last = Newman
  | editor-first = Roger K.
  | encyclopedia = The Yale Biographical Dictionary of American Law
  | title = Pollak, Walter Heilprin (1887–1941)
  | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=C364VLeAo8gC
  | access-date = 2 December 2017
  | year = 2009
  | publisher = Yale University Press
  | isbn = 978-0300113006
  | pages = 430
  | archive-date = 21 November 2016
  | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161121083430/https://books.google.com/books?id=C364VLeAo8gC
  | url-status = live
  }}</ref>

Interested in advancement and restoring the family name, Cardozo ran for a judgeship on the [[New York Supreme Court]]. In November 1913, Cardozo was elected by a large margin to a 14-year term on that court and took office on January 1, 1914.

===New York Court of Appeals===
In February 1914, Cardozo was designated to the [[New York Court of Appeals]] under the Amendment of 1899.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/02/03/100297987.pdf Designation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308021943/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1914/02/03/100297987.pdf |date=2021-03-08 }}, ''The New York Times'', February 3, 1914</ref> He was reportedly the first Jewish person to serve on the Court of Appeals.

In January 1917, he was appointed by the governor to a regular seat on the Court of Appeals to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of [[Samuel Seabury (judge)|Samuel Seabury]]. In [[New York state election, 1917|November 1917]], he was elected on the [[United States Democratic Party|Democratic]] and [[United States Republican Party|Republican]] tickets to a 14-year term on the Court of Appeals.

In [[New York state election, 1926|1926]], he was elected, on both tickets again, to a 14-year term as [[Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals|Chief Judge]]. He took office on January 1, 1927, and resigned on March 7, 1932 to accept his appointment to the [[United States Supreme Court]].

His tenure was marked by a number of original rulings, in [[tort]] and [[contract]] law in particular. This is partly due to timing; rapid industrialization was forcing courts to look anew at old common law components to adapt to new settings.<ref name="supreme court"/>

In 1921, Cardozo gave the Storrs Lectures at [[Yale University]], which were later published as ''[[The Nature of the Judicial Process]]'', a book that remains valuable to judges today.<ref name="supreme court"/> Shortly thereafter, Cardozo became a member of the group that founded the [[American Law Institute]], which crafted a [[Restatement of the Law]] of Torts, Contracts, and a host of other private law subjects. He wrote three other books that also became standards in the legal world.<ref name="supreme court"/>

While on the Court of Appeals, he criticized the [[exclusionary rule]] as developed by the federal courts, saying: "The criminal is to go free because the constable has blundered". He noted that many states had rejected the rule, but suggested that the adoption by the federal courts would affect the practice in the sovereign states.<ref>''People of the State of New York v. John Defore'', 150 N.E. 585 (1926).</ref><ref>{{cite news |first1=Tom, Judge, United States District Court Western District of Louisiana |last1=Stagg |author-link=Tom Stagg (judge) |location=Shreveport, La. |date=July 15, 1991 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/02/opinion/l-when-politics-topples-precedent-that-s-chaos-cardozo-in-context-787691.html |title=Letter to the Editor |work=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=January 7, 2013 |archive-date=March 9, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309035104/https://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/02/opinion/l-when-politics-topples-precedent-that-s-chaos-cardozo-in-context-787691.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.fairamendment.us/Fair%20or%20Foul.htm |title=Fair or Foul? Exclusionary rule hurts the innocent by protecting the guilty |location=Converse, Texas |publisher=[[Chattanooga Free Press]]/Fielding Press |journal=Yo! Liberals! You Call This Progress? |first1=Karl |last1=Spence |year=2006 |access-date=January 7, 2013 |isbn=0976682605 |archive-date=February 27, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227235103/http://www.fairamendment.us/Fair%20or%20Foul.htm |url-status=live }} {{ISBN|978-0976682608}}.</ref><ref name="Polenberg">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SKidV6GZyooC&pg=PA286|title=The World of Benjamin Cardozo: Personal Values and the Judicial Process|first1=Richard|last1=Polenberg|pages=203–207|location=Cambridge, Massachusetts|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=0674960521|access-date=January 13, 2012|year=1997}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} {{ISBN|978-0674960527}}</ref>

===United States Supreme Court===
[[File:Justice Benjamin N Cardozo 2.jpg|thumb|left|upright=.90|Justice Cardozo in his judicial robes]]
[[File:Cardozo Nomination.JPG|thumb|upright=.60|Cardozo's Supreme Court nomination]]
On February 15, 1932, President [[Herbert Hoover]] [[Nomination and confirmation to the Supreme Court of the United States|nominated]] Cardozo as an [[associate justice of the United States Supreme Court]],<ref name=RL33225>{{cite report| last=McMillion| first=Barry J.| date= January 28, 2022| title=Supreme Court Nominations, 1789 to 2020: Actions by the Senate, the Judiciary Committee, and the President| url=https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RL33225.pdf| publisher=Congressional Research Service| location=Washington, D.C.| access-date=February 15, 2022}}</ref> to succeed [[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.|Oliver Wendell Holmes]]. ''[[The New York Times]]'' said of Cardozo's appointment that "seldom, if ever, in the history of the Court has an appointment been so universally commended."<ref name="NYT1932-02-16">{{cite news |title=Cardozo is named to Supreme Court |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1932/02/16/archives/cardozo-is-named-to-supreme-court-nomination-hailed-hoover-sends.html |work=The New York Times |date=1932-02-16 |access-date=2018-07-23 |archive-date=2018-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180720081451/https://www.nytimes.com/1932/02/16/archives/cardozo-is-named-to-supreme-court-nomination-hailed-hoover-sends.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Democrat Cardozo's appointment by a Republican president has been referred to as one of the few Supreme Court appointments in history that was not motivated by partisanship or politics, but strictly based on the nominee's contribution to law.<ref name="presidential leadership">{{cite book | title = Presidential Leadership | author = James Taranto, Leonard Leo | publisher = Wall Street Journal Books | year = 2004 | url = https://archive.org/details/presidentiallead00tara | url-access = registration | access-date = 2008-10-20 | isbn = 978-0-7432-7226-1 }}</ref>

He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on February 24, 1932,<ref name=RL33225/> and was [[Oath of office#Federal judiciary oaths|sworn into office]] on March 14.<ref name=SCOTUSjustices/> During a radio broadcast soon after Cardozo's confirmation, [[Clarence C. Dill]], a Democratic senator from Washington, called Hoover's appointment of Cardozo "the finest act of his career as President."<ref>(''The New York Times'', March 2, 1932, p. 13)</ref> The entire faculty of the [[University of Chicago Law School]] had urged Hoover to nominate Cardozo, as did the deans of the law schools at Harvard, Yale, and Columbia. Justice [[Harlan Fiske Stone]] strongly urged Hoover to name Cardozo, even offering to resign to make room for him if Hoover had his heart set on someone else (Stone had suggested to [[Calvin Coolidge]] that he should nominate Cardozo in 1925 before Stone).<ref>(Handler, 1995)</ref> Hoover originally demurred; he was concerned that there were already two justices from New York, and a Jew on the court. Justice [[James Clark McReynolds|James McReynolds]] was a notorious anti-Semite (and once on the Court, McReynolds directed antagonistic antisemitic behavior toward Cardozo, something he had been sheltered from in his prior life<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Andrew L. |title=Cardozo |publisher=Harvard University Press |year=1998 |isbn=0-674-00192-3 |pages=479–489 |language=EN}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Roth |first=Larry M. |title=Benjamin N. Cardozo: The Tort Whisperer Nine Decades Later |url=https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/benjamin-cardozo-the-tort-whisperer-nine-decades-later/ |journal=Florida Bar Journal |volume=95 |issue=5 |pages=8}}</ref>). When the chairman of the [[U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations|Senate Foreign Relations Committee]], [[William Edgar Borah|William E. Borah]] of Idaho, added his strong support for Cardozo, however, Hoover finally bowed to the pressure.

Cardozo was a member of the [[Three Musketeers (Supreme Court)|Three Musketeers]], along with Brandeis and Stone, who were considered to be the liberal faction of the Supreme Court. During his tenure in the Court, Cardozo wrote opinions that stressed the necessity for the tightest adherence to the [[Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Tenth Amendment]].

===Honors===
Cardozo received the [[honorary degree]] of [[Legum Doctor|LL.D.]] from several colleges and universities, including: [[Columbia University|Columbia]] (1915); [[Yale University|Yale]] (1921); [[New York University|New York]] (1922); [[University of Michigan|Michigan]] (1923); [[Harvard University|Harvard]] (1927); [[St. John's University (New York City)|St. John's]] (1928); [[St. Lawrence University|St. Lawrence]] (1932); [[Williams College|Williams]] (1932); [[Princeton University|Princeton]] (1932); [[University of Pennsylvania|Pennsylvania]] (1932); [[Brown University|Brown]] (1933); and [[University of Chicago|Chicago]] (1933).<ref>{{cite book |date=1939 |title=Death Notices: Supplement to General Alumni Catalog |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F3CfAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA67 |location=Ann Arbor, MI |publisher=University of Michigan |page=16 |access-date=2020-10-01 |archive-date=2021-05-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506103231/https://books.google.com/books?id=F3CfAAAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA67 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Personal life==
[[File:2101 Connecticut Ave.JPG|thumb|upright|Cardozo had an apartment in this building in Washington, D.C.]]
As an adult, Cardozo no longer practiced Judaism (he identified as an agnostic), but he was proud of his Jewish heritage.<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/cardozo.html Benjamin Cardozo.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161021233729/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/cardozo.html |date=2016-10-21 }}, Jewish Virtual Library,</ref> 

Of the six children born to Albert and Rebecca Cardozo, only his twin sister Emily married. She and her husband did not have any children.

Constitutional law scholar [[Jeffrey Rosen (legal academic)|Jeffrey Rosen]] noted in a ''[[The New York Times|New York Times]]'' book review of [[Richard Polenberg]]'s book on Cardozo:

{{blockquote|Polenberg describes Cardozo's lifelong devotion to his older sister Nell, with whom he lived in New York until her death in 1929. When asked why he had never married, Cardozo replied, quietly and sadly, "I never could give Nellie the second place in my life".}}

[[File:Justice Cardozo.jpg|left|thumb|150px|Cardozo's gravesite]]
In late 1937, Cardozo had a [[myocardial infarction|heart attack]], and in early 1938, he suffered a [[stroke]]. He died on July 9, 1938, at the age of 68. He was buried in [[Beth Olam Cemetery]] in Queens.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c20_e.html |title=Christensen, George A. (1983) ''Here Lies the Supreme Court: Gravesites of the Justices'', Yearbook |access-date=2013-11-24 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050903032026/http://www.supremecourthistory.org/04_library/subs_volumes/04_c20_e.html |archive-date=2005-09-03 }} [[Supreme Court Historical Society]] at [[Internet Archive]].</ref><ref>''See also'', Christensen, George A., ''Here Lies the Supreme Court: Revisited'', ''Journal of Supreme Court History'', Volume 33 Issue 1, Pages 17 – 41 (19 Feb 2008), [[University of Alabama]].</ref>

In 1939, renowned Judge [[Learned Hand]] [[eulogy|eulogized]] Cardozo, describing him as able to "weigh the conflicting factors of his problem without always finding himself on one scale or the other" and noting that "his gentle nature had in it no acquisitiveness" and that he was able to get outside himself and "from this self-effacement came a power greater than the power of him who ruleth a city." Hand stated that Cardozo "was wise because his spirt was uncontaminated, because he knew no violence, or hatred, or envy, or jealousy, or ill-will." Hand found "it was this purity that chiefly made [Cardozo] the judge we so much revere; more than his learning, his acuteness, and his fabulous industry." He asked that people grasp the rare good fortune that a person with Cardozo's qualities existed, pause to "take count of our own coarser selves," and take in the lesson Cardozo taught through example, "a lesson quite at variance with most that we practice, and much that we profess."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hand |first=Learned |title=The Spirit of Liberty, Papers and Addresses of Learned Hand, Mr. Justice Cardozo |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=1953 |edition=2nd |publication-date=1953 |pages=132–133 |language=EN}}</ref>

Cardozo's evaluation of himself showed the same flair as his legal opinions:

<blockquote>In truth, I am nothing but a plodding mediocrity—please observe, a plodding mediocrity—for a mere mediocrity does not go very far, but a plodding one gets quite a distance. There is joy in that success, and a distinction can come from courage, fidelity and industry.<ref>As quoted in ''Nine Old Men'' (1936) by Drew Pearson and Robert Sharon Allen, p. 221.</ref></blockquote>

===Ethnicity===
Cardozo was the second Jewish justice to be appointed to the Supreme Court. The first was [[Louis Brandeis]], whose family was [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]].

Cardozo was born into the [[Spanish and Portuguese Jewish]] community, which had traditions distinct from the Ashkenazi. Since the appointment of Justice [[Sonia Sotomayor]] in the 21st century, some commentators have suggested that Cardozo should be considered the "first Hispanic justice".<ref name="Hispanic?">{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2009-05-26-courtcardozo_N.htm |title='Cardozo was first, but was he Hispanic?,' ''USA Today'', May 27, 2009 |access-date=2009-06-02 |date=May 27, 2009 |archive-date=2009-05-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090530075853/http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/judicial/2009-05-26-courtcardozo_N.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=7682271 |title=Mark Sherman, 'First Hispanic Justice? Some Say It Was Cardozo,' Associated Press May 26, 2009 |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |access-date=2009-06-02 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821223222/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=7682271 |archive-date=August 21, 2009 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.usnews.com/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/05/26/would-sotomayor-be-the-first-hispanic-supreme-court-justice-or-was-it-cardozo.html |title=Robert Schlesinger, ''Would Sotomayor be the First Hispanic Supreme Court Justice or Was it Cardozo?'' ''US News & World Report'' May 29, 2009 |access-date=August 24, 2017 |archive-date=May 29, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090529010636/http://www.usnews.com/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2009/05/26/would-sotomayor-be-the-first-hispanic-supreme-court-justice-or-was-it-cardozo.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In response to this controversy, Cardozo biographer Andrew Kaufman questioned the usage of the term "Hispanic" in Justice Cardozo's lifetime: "Well, I think he regarded himself as a [[Sephardic Jew]] whose ancestors came from the [[Iberian Peninsula]]".<ref name=Lewis>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/27hispanic.html | title=Neil A. Lewis, 'Was a Hispanic Justice on the Court in the '30s?,' ''The New York Times'', May 26, 2009 | work=The New York Times | date=May 27, 2009 | access-date=April 26, 2010 | archive-date=June 30, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120630005302/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/27hispanic.html | url-status=live }}</ref> Cardozo "confessed in 1937 that" after centuries in British North America, "his family preserved neither the Spanish language nor Iberian cultural traditions".<ref>{{cite book|author=Aviva Ben-Ur|title=''Sephardic Jews in America: A Diasporic History''|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JZQwMhgF8VkC&pg=PA86|year=2009|publisher=NYU Press|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8147-8632-1|page=86|access-date=2016-02-19|archive-date=2020-07-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727093049/https://books.google.com/books?id=JZQwMhgF8VkC&pg=PA86|url-status=live}}</ref> His ancestors had lived in England, the British colonies, and the United States since the 17th century.

Some Latino advocacy groups, such as the [[National Association of Latino Elected Officials]] and the [[Hispanic National Bar Association]], consider [[Sonia Sotomayor]] to be the first Hispanic justice, as in their view she was raised in Hispanic culture.<ref name="Hispanic?"/><ref name=Lewis/>

==Cases==
;New York Courts
*''[[Schloendorff v. Society of New York Hospital]]'', 105 N.E. 92 (1914) it is necessary to get informed consent from a patient before operation, but a non-profit hospital was not vicariously liable (the latter aspect was reversed in 1957)
*''[[MacPherson v. Buick Motor Co.]]'', 111 N.E. 1050 (1916) ending [[privity]] as a prerequisite to duty in [[product liability]] by ruling that manufacturers of products could be held liable for injuries to consumers even if they were not in privity.
*''[[De Cicco v. Schweizer]]'', 117 N.E. 807 (1917) where Cardozo approached the issue of [[third party beneficiary]] law in a contract for marriage case.
*''[[Wood v. Lucy, Lady Duff-Gordon]]'', 118 N.E. 214 (1917) on an implied promise to do something constituting [[consideration]] in a contract.
*''[[Martin v. Herzog]]'', 126 N.E. 814 (1920) breach of statutory duty establishes negligence, and the elements of the claim includes proof of causation
*''[[Jacob & Youngs v. Kent]]'', 230 N.Y. 239 (1921), substantial performance of a contract does not lead to a right to terminate, only damages.
*''[[Hynes v. New York Central Railroad Company]]'', 131 N.E. 898 (1921), a railway owed a [[duty of care]] despite the victims being trespassers.
*''[[Glanzer v Shepard]]'', 233 N.Y. 236, 135 N.E. 275, 23 A.L.R. 1425 (1922), a Caballero bean weighing dispute, with duties imposed by law but growing out of contract
*''[[Berkey v. Third Avenue Railway]]'', 244 N.Y. 84 (1926), the [[corporate veil]] cannot be pierced, even in favor of a tort victim unless domination of a subsidiary by the parent is complete.
*''[[Wagner v. International Railway]]'', 232 N.Y. 176 (1926) the [[rescue doctrine]]. "Danger invites rescue. The cry of distress is the summons to relief [...] The emergency begets the man. The wrongdoer may not have foreseen the coming of a deliverer. He is accountable as if he had".
*''[[Meinhard v. Salmon]]'', 164 N.E. 545 (1928) the [[fiduciary duty]] of business partners is, "Not honesty alone, but the punctilio of an honor the most sensitive".
*''[[Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.]]'', 162 N.E. 99 (1928) the development of the concept of the [[proximate cause]] in tort law.
*''[[Jessie Schubert v. August Schubert Wagon Company]]'', 164 N.E. 42 (1929) [[Respondeat superior]] and spousal immunity relationship are not related.
*''[[Murphy v. Steeplechase Amusement Park]]'', 166 N.E. 173 (1929) denied a right to recover for knee injury from riding "The Flopper" funride since the victim "assumed the risk".
*''[[Ultramares v. Touche]]'', 174 N.E. 441 (1931) on the limitation of liability of auditors

;US Supreme Court
*''[[Nixon v. Condon]]'', 286 U.S. 73 (1932) all white Texas Democratic Party primary unconstitutional
*''[[Welch v. Helvering]]'', 290 U.S. 111 (1933) which concerns Internal Revenue Code Section 162 and the meaning of "ordinary" business deductions.
*''[[Panama Refining Co. v. Ryan]]'', 293 U.S. 388 (1935) dissenting from a narrow interpretation of the [[Commerce Clause]].
*''[[A.L.A. Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States]]'', 295 U.S. 495 (1935), concurring in the invalidation of poultry regulations as outside the [[commerce clause]] power.
*''[[Carter v. Carter Coal Company]]'', 298 U.S. 238 (1936) dissenting over the scope of the Commerce Clause.
*''[[Steward Machine Company v. Davis]]'', 301 U.S. 548 (1937) unemployment compensation and social security were constitutional
*''[[Helvering v. Davis]]'', 301 U.S. 619 (1937) social security not a contributory programme
*''[[Palko v. Connecticut]]'', 302 U.S. 319 (1937) the due process clause incorporated those rights which were "implicit in the concept of ordered liberty".

==Schools, organizations, buildings and ships named after Cardozo==
* [[Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law]] at [[Yeshiva University]] in [[New York City]]
* [[Benjamin N. Cardozo Chapter]] of [[Phi Alpha Delta]] Law Fraternity at The Catholic University of America [[Columbus School of Law]] in [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.pad.org/general/custom.asp?page=law_chapter_locator | title=Law School Chapter Locator }}</ref> 
* Cardozo College, a dormitory building at [[Stony Brook University]] in [[Stony Brook, New York]]
* Benjamin N. Cardozo Lodge #163, [[Knights of Pythias]]<ref>[http://www.cardozospeaks.org * * * Benjamin N. Cardozo Lodge<!-- bot-generated title -->] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224163624/http://www.cardozospeaks.org/ |date=2021-02-24 }} at www.cardozospeaks.org</ref>
* [[Benjamin N. Cardozo High School]] in the borough of [[Queens]] in [[New York City]]
* The Cardozo Hotel, 1300 Ocean Drive, Miami, Florida
* The [[Liberty ship]] SS Benjamin N. Cardozo was built by [[California Shipbuilding Corporation]] and launched on April 5, 1943 and later renamed [[USS Serpens (AK-97)|USS Serpens]]''.''
* The Cardozo Jewish Legal Society is an affinity group at [[Albany Law School]] and other law schools dedicated to representing the interests of the school's Jewish students.

==Bibliography==
* Cardozo, Benjamin N. (1921), ''[[The Nature of the Judicial Process]]'', The Storrs Lectures Delivered at [[Yale University]].
*Cardozo, Benjamin N. (1924), ''The Growth of the Law'', 5 Additional Lectures Delivered at Yale University.
* {{cite book |last1=Cardozo |first1=Benjamin N. |year=1928 |title=The Paradoxes of Legal Science |publisher=[[Columbia University]] |oclc=843833 }}
*Cardozo, Benjamin N. (1931), ''Law and Literature and Other Essays and Addresses.''
* Cardozo, Benjamin N. (1889), ''The Altruist in Politics'', commencement oration at Columbia College, [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1341/1341-h/1341-h.htm Gutenberg Project version].

==See also==
* [[Demographics of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
* [[List of justices of the Supreme Court of the United States]]
* [[List of law clerks of the Supreme Court of the United States (Seat 2)]]
* [[List of United States Supreme Court justices by time in office]]
* [[List of United States Supreme Court cases by the Hughes Court|United States Supreme Court cases during the Hughes Court]]
* [[List of first minority male lawyers and judges in New York]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
{{Refbegin|60em}}
* {{cite book |title=Justices, Presidents, and Senators: A History of the U.S. Supreme Court Appointments from Washington to Clinton |last=Abraham |first=Henry J. |year=1999 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Lanham |edition=Revised |isbn=0-8476-9604-9 }}
* Cardozo, Benjamin N. (1957). ''An Introduction to Law''. Cambridge: Harvard Law Review Association. (Chapters by eight distinguished American judges).
* {{cite journal | last = Cunningham | first = Lawrence A. | year = 1995 | title = Cardozo and Posner: A Study in Contracts | journal = William & Mary Law Review | volume = 36 | pages = 1379 | ssrn = 678761 }}
* Cardozo, Benjamin N. [1870–1938]. ''Essays Dedicated to Mr. Justice Cardozo''. [N.p.]: Published by [[Columbia Law Review]], [[Harvard Law Review]], [[Yale Law Journal]], 1939. [143] pp.&nbsp;Contributors: [[Harlan Fiske Stone]], the Rt. Hon. [[Lord Maugham]], [[Herbert Vere Evatt]], [[Learned Hand]], [[Irving Lehman]], [[Warren Seavey]], [[Arthur L. Corbin]], [[Felix Frankfurter]]. Also includes a reprint of Cardozo’s essay ”Law And Literature” with a foreword by [[James M. Landis]].
* {{cite book |last=Cushman |first=Clare |title=The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789–1995 |edition=2nd |publisher=([[Supreme Court Historical Society]], Congressional Quarterly Books) |year=2001 |isbn=1-56802-126-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Frank |first=John P. |editor-last=Friedman |editor-first=Leon |editor2-last=Israel |editor2-first=Fred L. |title=The Justices of the United States Supreme Court: Their Lives and Major Opinions |publisher=Chelsea House Publishers |year=1995 |isbn=0-7910-1377-4 |url=https://archive.org/details/justicesofunited0000unse }}
* [[Felix Frankfurter|Frankfurter, Felix]], ''Mr. Justice Cardozo and Public Law'', [[Columbia Law Review]] 39 (1939): 88–118, [[Harvard Law Review]] 52 (1939): 440–470, [[Yale Law Journal]] 48 (1939): 458–488.
* {{cite book |editor-last=Hall |editor-first=Kermit L. |title=The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1992 |location=New York |isbn=0-19-505835-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00hall }}
* {{cite journal | last = Handler | first = Milton | year = 1995 | title = Stone's Appointment by Coolidge | journal = The Supreme Court Historical Society Quarterly | volume = 16 | issue = 3 | pages = 4 }}
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?108203-1/cardozo Presentation by Andrew L. Kaufman on ''Cardozo'', June 14, 1998], [[C-SPAN]]}}
* {{cite book |title=Cardozo |last=Kaufman |first=Andrew L. |year=1998 |publisher=Harvard University Press |location=Cambridge, MA |isbn=0-674-09645-2 |url=https://archive.org/details/cardozo00kauf }}
* {{cite book |last=Martin |first=Fenton S. |author2=Goehlert, Robert U. |title=The U.S. Supreme Court: A Bibliography |publisher=Congressional Quarterly Books |year=1990 |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=0-87187-554-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/ussupremecourtbi0000mart }}
* {{cite book |title=The World of Benjamin Cardozo: Personal Values and the Judicial Process |last=Polenberg |first=Richard |year=1997 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |isbn=978-0-674-96051-0 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/worldofbenjaminc00pole/page/320 320] |url=https://archive.org/details/worldofbenjaminc00pole/page/320 }}
* {{cite book |title=Cardozo: A Study in Reputation |last=Posner |first=Richard A. |author-link=Richard A. Posner |year=1990 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-67555-6 }}
* Seavey, Warren A., ''Mr. Justice Cardozo and the Law of Torts'', [[Columbia Law Review]] 39 (1939): 20–55, [[Harvard Law Review]] 52 (1939): 372–407, [[Yale Law Journal]] 48 (1939): 390–425
* {{cite book |last=Urofsky |first=Melvin I. |title=The Supreme Court Justices: A Biographical Dictionary |publisher=Garland Publishing |year=1994 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/supremecourtjust00melv/page/590 590] |isbn=0-8153-1176-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/supremecourtjust00melv/page/590 }}
{{Refend}}

==External links==
{{sisterlinks|d=y|s=Author:Benjamin N. Cardozo|c=Category:Benjamin N. Cardozo|n=no|b=no|v=no|voy=no|m=no|mw=no|species=no|wikt=no}}
* {{FJC Bio|374|nid=1378836|name=Benjamin Nathan Cardozo<!--(1870–1938)-->}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=610| name=Benjamin Nathan Cardozo}}
* {{Internet Archive author|sname=Benjamin Nathan Cardozo}}
* {{Librivox author |id=15378}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090826222955/http://www.michaelariens.com/ConLaw/justices/cardozo.htm Benjamin Cardozo at Michael Ariens.com.]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090207190754/http://www.supremecourthistory.org/02_history/subs_history/02_c11.html History of the Court, the Hughes Court at] [[Supreme Court Historical Society]].
* [http://www.courts.state.ny.us/history/elecbook/thereshallbe/pg100.htm Listing and portrait of Benjamin N. Cardozo], [[New York Court of Appeals]] judge at [[Historical Society of the Courts of the State of New York]].
* [[Oyez.org|Oyez Project]], [https://www.oyez.org/justices/benjamin_n_cardozo/ U.S. Supreme Court media, Benjamin N. Cardozo.]

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{{s-bef|before=[[Frank H. Hiscock|Frank Hiscock]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals]]|years=1927–1932}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Cuthbert W. Pound|Cuthbert Pound]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.|Oliver Holmes]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]]|years=1932–1938}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Felix Frankfurter]]}}
{{s-end}}
{{Jurisprudence}}
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{{SCOTUS Justices}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cardozo, Benjamin N.}}
[[Category:1870 births]]
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[[Category:20th-century American Sephardic Jews]]
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