Robert A. Taft: “Equal Justice under Law”

( 1946 ) Commentary by John W. Malsberger, Muhlenberg College

“The totalitarian idea has spread throughout many nations where, in the nineteenth century, the ideals of liberty and justice were accepted. Even in this country the theory that the state is finally responsible for every condition, and that every problem must be cured by giving the government arbitrary power to act, has been increasingly the philosophy of the twentieth century.” - “Equal Justice under Law"
“Unfortunately, I believe we Americans have also in recent foreign policy been largely affected by principles of expediency and supposed necessity, and abandoned largely the principle of justice. We have drifted into the acceptance of the idea that the world is to be ruled by the power of the great nations and a police force established by them rather than by international law.” - “Equal Justice under Law”
“War has always set back temporarily the ideals of the world. This time because of the tremendous scope of the war, the increased barbarism of its methods and the general prevalence of the doctrine of force and expediency even before the war, the effect today is even worse and the duration of the postwar period of disillusionment may be longer. As I see it, the English-speaking peoples have one great responsibility. That is to restore to the minds of men a devotion to equal justice under law.” - “Equal Justice under Law”

Robert A. Taft (Library of Congress)

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