I just got my first edition of The Green Bag, Summer 2008, Vol 11, Number 4. The Green Bag calls itself an entertaining journal of law, and it is indeed a fun read. This volume talked about the change from the plural to the singular in "The United States are" to "The United States is" post-Civil War; and Henry R. Selden's must-read June 17, 1873 speech in defense of Susan B. Anthony's right to vote.
Some of my favorite items are here:
page 474: Louis Brandeis: "Equity does not demand that its suitors shall have led blameless lives." Loughran v. Loughran, 292 U.S. 216, 229 (1934)
page 519: Nelson Lund, quoting Gene Healy's book, The Cult of the Presidency:
True political heroism rarely pounds its chest or pounds the pulpit, preaching rainbows and uplift, and promising to redeem the world through military force. A truly heroic president is one who appreciates the virtues of restraint--who is bold enough to act when action is necessary, yet wise enough, humble enough to refuse powers he ought not have. That is the sort of presidency we need, now more than ever. And we won't get that kind of presidency until we demand it.
Restraint? Check. Humility? Check. Act not rashly, but when necessary and prudent? Check. It's this kind of talk that makes my libertarian heart go aflutter.
"And if an epitaph be my story, I'd have a short one ready for my own: I had a lover's quarrel with the world." -- Robert Frost
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