Wendell Holmes is considered one of the greatest of Supreme Court justices. He was not. He is one of the most-cited because he wrote headlines not opinions. "Taxes are what we pay for civilized society"; "Three generations of imbeciles are enough."; "The Fourteenth Amendment does not enact Mr. Herbert Spencer's Social Statics."; "shouting fire in a theater"; "Detached reflection cannot be demanded in the presence of an uplifted knife." Lovely, such a phrase-turner, muaw. Chief Justice Taft complained that "his opinions are short, and not very helpful". He wanted the lime-light, to be celebrated even to the extent of seeking to curry favor with his young admirers.

Which brings me to one of three cardinal examples of Holmes greatest failing as a judge and as a man: his judgment. I know of no other "among-the-greatests" who authored two majority opinions that were as stupid as did Holmes. Federal Baseball Club v National League (Professional baseball is not commerce and the interstate travel required is merely incidental. (?!)) and Buck v Ball (If the state can compel vaccinations it can compel forced sterilization. Awesome use of precedent there. (?!?!)--within five years of each other;

"Holmes was a cold and brutally cynical man who had contempt for the masses and for the progressive laws he voted to uphold ... an aristocratic nihilist who once told his sister that he loathed 'the thick-fingered clowns we call the people'."-Jeffrey Rosen, professor George Washington University.

And who employed Alger Hiss as his law clerk.