CBA Record March-April 2026

THE YOUNG LAWYERS SECTION

Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms Roosevelt articulated a set of fundamental human rights, known as the Four Free doms, in his 1941 State of the Union address. As World War II had been con suming Europe and the Pacific for almost two years without U.S. involvement, Roosevelt sought to bolster American sup port for aiding Britain. According to the National Archives, he presented a vision of American ideals, appealing to “Ameri cans’ most profound beliefs about free dom.” He noted that we must never lose sight of the “simple” and “basic” founda tions of a healthy and strong democracy. Roosevelt identified these foundations as equal opportunity for all; jobs for those who can work; security for those who need it; ending special privilege for the few; the preservation of civil liberties for everyone; and the enjoyment of the fruits of scientific progress in a wider and con stantly rising standard of living. Roosevelt further called for socio economic improvements in the United States including expanded medical care, retirement benefits, unemployment pro tections, and better systems for the unem ployed to find work. More broadly, he looked ahead to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms, noting that these ought to be present “every where in the world”: l Freedom of speech and expression; l Freedom of every person to worship in their own way; l Freedom from want, meaning “eco nomic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peace time life for its inhabitants”; l Freedom from fear, which, globally speaking, meant “a world-wide reduc tion of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor.” The Four Freedoms eventually evolved into the foundations for the 1941 Atlantic Charter; the United Nations Declaration of January 1, 1942; the United Nations

The Four Freedoms and the Economic Bill of Rights By Katherine Hanson, YLS Journal Co-Editor In Chief B ased on current events, co-editors of this YLS edition of the CBA Record believe this bar year provides a particularly good opportunity for members to reflect on fundamental rights. The term is a broad one, to be sure. First Amendment rights immediately come to mind. But in this issue, contributors explore a variety of rights, some that may be familiar, and others that are somewhat less so but are no less important. After law school, I served as a teaching assistant for a university’s Labor History class. The student body was global, with students from China, Japan, South Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, central Europe, and every region of the United States. The class discussed the similarities and differences in what they perceived to be “fundamental rights.” The beliefs were more similar than different, even though not all enjoyed the same freedoms due to varying geographies and governments. But we bonded over the awareness that the rights we individually believed to be “fundamental” were, for the most part, universally held. As a springboard for discussions, the class reviewed Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Free doms and his Economic Bill of Rights. I elaborate (and partially paraphrase) them here.

22 March/April 2026