Hand, Learned Billings (1872–1961)

US jurist. He became federal district judge under President Taft in 1909 and was appointed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals by President Coolidge in 1924. He served as chief judge of that court 1939–51, handing down opinions in landmark copyright, antitrust, and constitutional First Amendment cases.

Born in Albany, New York, and educated at Harvard University, Hand received his law degree in 1896. Although never appointed to the US Supreme Court, Hand was considered a leading jurist of his day. A collection of his essays, ‘The Spirit of Liberty’, was published in 1952.