Three Generations of Bazelons Are Enough

For 75 years, the Bazelon legal dynasty has labored tirelessly, in effect, to raise the black murder rate.

I’ve often brought up the name of judge David Bazelon, who was the most important judge in the United States not on the Supreme Court during the liberal Warren Court era when the murder rate was allowed to double.

To this day, his granddaughters, legal pundits Lara and Emily Bazelon, carry on the family obsession with making the world a nicer place for black criminals to ply their trade.

In Free Press, veteran legal eagle Joel Klein recounts an informative story of his year as Judge Bazelon’s law clerk:

Ancient Wisdom: How a Supreme Court Justice Changed My Life

… By Joel Klein

Joel Klein is a former chancellor of New York City’s public schools system, and the former head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division. He has argued over 30 cases before the Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals.

09.28.25 —

Weekend Culture

Welcome back to Ancient Wisdom, our Sunday series in which writers over 70 tell us how they are aging gracefully. … This week, Joel Klein, 78, recalls two clerkships with two prominent judges 50 years ago, and what he learned about certainty, doubt, and the value of humility. …

… Then, a couple of years after graduating from law school in 1971, I landed two judicial clerkships, first with a distinguished liberal judge on the United States Court of Appeals in D.C., and then with a conservative on the Supreme Court. Looking at their political labels, I was certain the first clerkship was going to be spectacular—I would be helping someone in power make the world a better place. The second, by contrast, looked to be difficult—I would learn a lot but would be helping a man whose views I opposed. As it turned out, I was wrong about both. Together, they taught me a vital lesson: Being certain is no guarantee of being right.

A judicial clerkship involves working closely for a year with a judge, often writing first drafts of legal opinions. …

My dream was to clerk for Chief Judge David Bazelon on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and then for Justice William Brennan or Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court.

Bazelon and Brennan, the brains of the Warren Court, were best friends and often connived together to tee up in Bazelon’s Court of Appeals the perfect cases for the Supreme Court to issue a landmark decision upon.

These were among the most iconic liberal jurists of the time. Their progressive legal views inspired and echoed my own. Bazelon was also a leader in the field of law and psychiatry, an area I had focused on during law school and remained keenly interested in. Alan Dershowitz, the renowned law professor, had clerked for Bazelon, who looked to him to recommend law clerks. I came to know Dershowitz well, having taken several of his classes and been his research assistant. He recommended me to Bazelon, and I got the job.

Things started off well. …

Paywall here.