Editing Learned Hand (section)

{{Short description|American jurist and philosopher (1872–1961)}}
{{featured article}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Learned Hand
| image               = LearnedHand1910a.jpg
| caption             = Portrait, {{circa|1910}}
| office              = [[Senior Judge]] of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]]
| term_start          = June 1, 1951
| term_end            = August 18, 1961
| office2             = [[Chief judge (United States)|Chief Judge]] of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]]
| term_start2         = September 1, 1948
| term_end2           = June 1, 1951
| predecessor2        = ''Office established''
| successor2          = [[Thomas Walter Swan]]
| office3             = Judge of the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]]
| term_start3         = December 20, 1924
| term_end3           = June 1, 1951
| appointer3          = [[List of federal judges appointed by Calvin Coolidge|Calvin Coolidge]]
| predecessor3        = [[Julius Marshuetz Mayer]]
| successor3          = [[Harold Medina]]
| office4             = Judge of the [[United States District Court for the Southern District of New York]]
| term_start4         = April 26, 1909
| term_end4           = December 29, 1924
| appointer4          = [[List of federal judges appointed by William Howard Taft|William Howard Taft]]
| predecessor4        = ''Seat established by 35 Stat. 685''
| successor4          = [[Thomas D. Thacher]]
| birth_name          = Billings Learned Hand
| birth_date          = {{Birth date|1872|01|27}}
| birth_place         = [[Albany, New York]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{Death date and age|1961|08|18|1872|01|27}}
| death_place         = New York City, U.S.
| party               = {{plainlist|
* [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (before 1900)
* [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (1900–1912)
* [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive]] (1912–1916)
}}
| spouse              = {{Marriage|Frances Amelia Fincke|1902}}
| children            = 3
| relatives           = {{plainlist|
* [[Richard Jordan]] (grandson)
* [[Augustus Noble Hand]] (cousin)
}}
| parents             = <!-- overrides mother and father parameters -->
| mother              = <!-- may be used (optionally with father parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) -->
| father              = [[Samuel Hand]] <!-- may be used (optionally with mother parameter) in place of parents parameter (displays "Parent(s)" as label) -->
| education           = [[Harvard University]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|AB]], [[Master of Arts|AM]], [[Bachelor of Laws|LLB]])
| signature           = Learned Hand signature.png
}}

'''Billings Learned Hand''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|l|ɜːr|n|ᵻ|d}} {{respell|LURN|id}}; January 27, 1872 – August 18, 1961) was an American jurist, lawyer, and [[judicial philosopher]]. He served as a federal trial judge on the [[U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York]] from 1909 to 1924 and as a federal appellate judge on the [[U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit]] from 1924 to 1961.

Born and raised in [[Albany, New York]], Hand majored in philosophy at [[Harvard College]] and graduated with honors from [[Harvard Law School]]. After a relatively undistinguished career as a lawyer in Albany and New York City, he was appointed at the age of 37 as a [[Manhattan]] federal district judge in 1909. The profession suited his detached and open-minded temperament, and his decisions soon won him a reputation for craftsmanship and authority. Between 1909 and 1914, under the influence of [[Herbert Croly]]'s social theories, Hand supported [[New Nationalism (Theodore Roosevelt)|New Nationalism]]. He ran unsuccessfully as the [[Progressive Party (United States, 1912)|Progressive Party]]'s candidate for [[Chief judge (United States)|chief judge]] of the [[New York Court of Appeals]] in 1913, but withdrew from active politics shortly afterwards. In 1924, President [[Calvin Coolidge]] elevated Hand to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which he went on to lead as the senior circuit judge (later retitled chief judge) from 1939 until his semi-retirement in 1951. Scholars have recognized the Second Circuit under Hand as one of the finest appeals courts in American history. Friends and admirers often lobbied for Hand's promotion to the Supreme Court, but circumstances and his political past conspired against his appointment.

Hand possessed a gift for the English language, and his writings are admired as legal literature.<ref>{{Harvnb|Schick|1970|pp=188–89}}</ref> He rose to fame outside the legal profession in 1944 during World War II after giving a short address in [[Central Park]] that struck a popular chord in its appeal for tolerance. During a period when a hysterical fear of [[Subversion (politics)|subversion]] divided the nation, Hand was viewed as a liberal defender of [[civil liberties]]. A collection of Hand's papers and addresses, published in 1952 as ''The Spirit of Liberty'', sold well and won him new admirers. Even after he criticized the civil-rights [[judicial activism|activism]] of the [[Warren Court]], Hand retained his popularity.

Hand is also remembered as a pioneer of modern approaches to [[statute|statutory]] interpretation. His decisions in specialist fields—such as [[United States patent law|patents]], [[tort]]s, [[admiralty law]], and [[United States antitrust law|antitrust law]]—set lasting standards for craftsmanship and clarity. On constitutional matters, he was both a political [[Progressivism in the United States|progressive]] and an advocate of [[judicial restraint]]. He believed in the protection of [[free speech]] and in bold legislation to address social and economic problems. He argued that the [[United States Constitution]] does not empower courts to overrule the legislation of elected bodies, except in extreme circumstances. Instead, he advocated the "combination of toleration and imagination that to me is the epitome of all good government".<ref>{{Harvnb|Dworkin|1996|p=342.}} Quoted from Hand's 1958 Holmes Lectures.</ref> {{as of|2004|post=,}} Hand had been quoted more often by legal scholars and by the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] than any other lower-court judge.<ref name="SV">{{Harvnb|Stone|2004|p=200}}; {{Harvnb|Vile|2003|p=319}}</ref>