United States v. Harry Bernstein

“Proper credit judgment” is a wonderfully impressive phrase, a portentous, businesslike phrase, one that rolls readily off the tongue of bankers and financiers in their board rooms and at their clubs. But, what does it mean? The statute under which defendants were convicted contains no reference to it. The district judge never instructed the jurors as to its meaning. We have no idea how these twelve untutored laymen defined it. Last, but not least, my brothers in the majority fail to enlighten us with their interpretation. And yet, this phrase, undefined, unexplained and uninterpreted to this…