Benjamin N. Cardozo

Benjamin Nathan Cardozo was born on May 24, 1870, in New York City, and died on July 9, 1938, and served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1932 until his death, appointed by President Herbert Hoover to succeed Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. Before his Supreme Court appointment he served on the New York Court of Appeals from 1914 to 1932, becoming its chief judge in 1926 and writing influential opinions such as Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co. On the Supreme Court he was part of the liberal bloc of justices known as the Three Musketeers and wrote the majority opinion in cases including Steward Machine Co. v. Davis, and he is remembered for his significant influence on the development of American common law in the twentieth century as well as for his philosophy and vivid prose style.