Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. was one of the most influential judges ever to take the bench, serving as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court for 30 years and largely defining First Amendment rights as we now understand them. Profoundly influenced by his experiences during the Civil War, Holmes advocated for “legal realism,” observing that “the life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.” Among his many often-cited writings, Holmes wrote the Supreme Court’s unanimous opinion that the government could legally restrict free speech if there existed a “clear and present danger.” Holmes retired from the court at the age of 90, making him the oldest justice in Supreme Court history.
Constitutional scholar Ronald Collins has taught at the University of Washington, Stanford, Temple, and George Washington University. He is the editor of The Fundamental Holmes: A Free Speech Chronicle and Reader.