Cross posted at DEMbloggers.

In 1932 legendary Justice Oliver Wendell Homes announced his retirement from the court, leaving it to President Hoover to name a new justice.  In taking his job seriously he went to the Senate and asked for their advice in choosing this new justice.  The President presented the Senate with a list of names that included some of the best legal minds of his era.  At the bottom of the list was the name of a New York Supreme Court Chief Justice.  That name was Benjamin Nathan Cardozo.  The Senate asked that President Hoover move Cardozo’s name up on the list, and at their request the President did so.  For those who may not know of Cardozo let me fill you in.

Benjamin Cardozo came from one of the older Jewish families of New York.  His father served on the New York Supreme Court until 1872 when he resigned.  Cardozo went into law and would later become the Chief Justice of the New York Supreme Court.

Cardozo in 1928 came out in support of Hoover’s opponent in the Presidential race.  Cardozo supported Al Smith but, he did so due to his Jewish background.  Cardozo wrote in a letter to a cousin the following:

that in the Republican camp “will be found all the narrow-minded bigots, all the Jew haters, all those who would make of the United States an exclusively Protestant government…. The defeat of Smith will be acclaimed as a great victory by … the friends of obscurantism.”

Even though Cardozo did not support Hoover for presidency it was still Hoover who nominated Cardozo to the Supreme Court.  Hoover drew fire from both sides for this nomination.  Scholars, Senators, and other justices advised the president to nominate Cardozo; while the other side stated there was already a Jewish voice on the court and another was not needed.  The President went against many in his party and went ahead and nominated Cardozo.  

Cardozo went on to receive unanimous support from the senate and served on the court for over 6 years.  Cardozo was a major reason the “New Deal” was upheld by the court when he went against many conservative justices who were trying to state that it was unconstitutional.  Cardozo favored government intervention in order to control the economy.

Cardozo has been spoken highly of throughout history, many even calling him the greatest legal mind of the early twentieth century.  Some have said things such as the following regarding Cardozo:

“Shy and sensitive, immensely learned yet natively humble, Cardozo transcended the heated controversies of this day to take place as one of the dozen or so truly great judges in the Court’s history.”

In my opinion, this is true meaning of advice and consent.  Hoover nominated an individual that did not agree with him politically.  He did so at the request of the senate and that nomination went on to receive a unanimous vote.  

My only hope is this President will follow in the footsteps of his predecessors.  But, we all know that will probably not happen.

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