Henry Friendly and the Incorporation of the Bill of Rights

This essay analyzes the response of one of America’s pre-eminent judges, Henry Friendly, to one of the most far reaching constitutional developments of his time and our time, the incorporation of the Bill of Rights into the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. In the course of addressing the issue, Friendly raised profound concerns about constitutional construction, federalism, the rule of law, and individual liberty that continue to resonate decades later.