Anthony Lewis: Pioneer in the Court’s Pressroom

Journalists, whether they know it or not, and whether or not they would admit it, are profoundly influenced by the eras in which they live and by the ideas which make up their daily news conversation. Tony Lewis was America’s witness to “the Warren Court,” and it forever made him a believing liberal. (He may have been the only reporter covering the Supreme Court who would have understood why that Court was “liberal” rather than “progressive,” which is the more fashionable word for what passes for liberalism today with its strong echoes of early twentieth century progressivism.)