Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion

by Seth Stern, Stephen Wermiel

This book is a sweeping and revealing insider look at court history and the life of William Brennan, champion of free speech and public access to information, and widely considered the most influential Supreme Court justice of the twentieth century.

Before his death, Brennan granted coauthor Stephen Wermiel access to a trove of personal and court materials that will not be available to the public until 2017. Wermiel also conducted more than 60 hours of interviews with Brennan over the course of six years. No other biographer has enjoyed this kind of access to a Supreme Court justice or to his papers.

Justice Brennan makes public for the first time the contents of what Jeffrey Toobin calls “a coveted set of documents,” Brennan’s case histories, in which he recorded the strategizing behind all the major battles of the past half century, including Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, the death penalty, obscenity law, and the constitutional right to privacy.

Revelations on a more intimate scale include how Brennan refused to hire female clerks even as he wrote groundbreaking women’s rights decisions; his complex stance as a justice and a Catholic; and new details on Brennan’s unprecedented working relationship with Chief Justice Earl Warren. This riveting information—intensely valuable to readers of all political persuasions—will cement Brennan’s reputation as epic playmaker of the Court’s most liberal era.

Genres: Biography, Law, Nonfiction, History, American History, Biography Memoir, Politics

674 pages, Hardcover

First published October 14, 2010

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Few Supreme Court justices have had a greater — and more controversial — impact on American history than William J. Brennan. Attacked by his opponents as a judicial activist, the decisions he authored over a thirty-four-year career on the Court expanded the rights of Americans, including those of such disadvantaged groups as minorities, criminal defendants, and the poor. Two decades after his retirement, his jurisprudence endures in helping to define our understanding of American law in many areas. Yet until now, Brennan's life and career has never received the degree of biographical attention such contemporaries as Earl Warren, Thurgood Marshall, and John Marshall Harlan have enjoyed. Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel go far towards rectifying this deficiency with this book, which offers a searching examination of Brennan's life and career.

There was little in Brennan's early years to suggest the impact his career would have on the country. The son of an Irish immigrant who had made a career in New Jersey politics, Brennan worked hard to obtain an education. Graduation from Harvard Law School led to a job with Newark's preeminent legal firm, followed by wartime service and appointment to the New Jersey state bench. Brennan's background (particularly his Roman Catholicism) and his work in court reform led to his nomination to the Supreme Court by President Eisenhower, where he soon emerged as one of the Court's most prominent liberals in an era characterized by landmark decisions that helped to transform the nation. Though many of these decisions generated a political backlash that shifted the Court to the right and halted further progress, Brennan succeeded in entrenching many of his earlier gains with later decisions that preserved his legacy as a justice.

Well written and based on considerable research, Stern and Wermiel's book fills the longstanding need for a good biography of the justice. Their focus is on his tenure on the Court, as they cover the first fifty years of Brennan's life in a mere seventy pages while devoting the next 450 to his time on the Court and his role in the many decisions in which he participated. The authors' explanation of how these developed is one of the great strengths of the book, as they draw upon numerous interviews and Brennan's extensive collection of personal papers to give an insightful account of how these decisions evolved, an account that emphasizes the role of Brennan's political skills in contributing to his success on the Court. The result is a book that will stand for some time as the standard biography of the great liberal justice and the yardstick by which future studies of Brennan will be measured.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit dry but ultimately readable, Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion offers important insights into the life, philosophy, and Supreme Court decisions of Justice William Brennan.

Arguably one of the most influential justices of the 20th century, Brennan's legacy lives on as our society continues to debate a multitude of issues related to our democratic republic and the role of the courts in our system of government.

Much maligned by right-wing propagandists as a "judicial activist," Brennan was actually a principled man who pursued equality, justice, and the right of all Americans to be afforded human dignity in all of their dealings with their government and each other. The book does a good job of illustrating these points while also being fair about the fact that Brennan had human failings and human problems: he was often deeply in debt, several family members suffered from alcoholism, and, especially later on in his time on the Supreme Court, he could be hard-charging and strident in his opinions, which sometimes served to alienate his colleagues, the press, and the public.

Though the authors did an excellent job with this book overall, I do have to quibble with an assertion made toward the end of the book. The authors claim that Brennan's belief in a "living Constitution" has gone out of style in today's world. I strongly disagree with that opinion. Just because the idea of a living Constitution is sneered at by the likes of Justice Antonin Scalia, FOX News, and Glenn Beck doesn't mean that the ideas underpinning the philosophy have gone away. Indeed, common sense tells us that the Framers simply could not have intended words written in the 1700s to apply to modern situations and circumstances in exactly the same way as they did more than 200 years ago. The Framers could not have predicted things like the advent of radio, television, computers, the Internet, and social networks, yet in our system of government, the Constitution must be flexible enough to accommodate changing times and technologies, and the Framers had to have known that society would progress beyond the confines of the 18th century.

This doesn't mean that the Supreme Court or anyone else should be allowed to read things into the Constitution that aren't there or to twist the plain English meaning of the words to reach absurd results (such as granting the same free speech rights to corporations that individuals enjoy), and Brennan could legitimately be accused of sometimes engaging in such behavior. However, his idea that the Constitution is applicable to modern times and can be interpreted using evolving standards of decency is not an insult to the document or those who drafted it; rather, it is a tribute to those who put pen to paper all those years ago and were wise enough to found a nation with a constitution that has stood the test of time while accommodating the many changes that passing time has brought to the country and protecting the rights of generations of Americans.

For those who are interested in biographies of Supreme Court justices, I would also recommend Wild Bill: The Legend and Life of William O. Douglas , Becoming Justice Blackmun , and the incredible Justice for All: Earl Warren and the Nation He Made .

[Lorna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion was an in-depth biography where the author was granted more than sixty hours in interviews with Brennan in addition to being given access to all of Justice Brennan's papers including case notes and histories. He was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Eisenhower in 1956. At one point the President was asked about any mistakes he had made in his administration to which he replied to the effect that he had made two mistakes and they were both serving on the Supreme Court, referring to Justices Warren and Brennan.

Justice Brennan is considered as one of the most important justices in the twentieth century shepherding landmark legislation including women's rights, freedom of speech, affirmative action, justice reform and civil rights.

It was asserted that perhaps no justice deserves more credit for advancing the cause of the civil rights movement in the first half of the 1960's than Brennan. "Brennan's opinions sent a clear signal to lower courts that the law could no longer be employed as a bludgeon against the civil rights movement." Ruth Bader Ginsburg would hail Brennan as the "Court's clearest, most constant speaker for women's equality."

After Brennan's retirement in 1990, David Souter made a lasting impression on him during his confirmation hearing when he predicted that Brennan would be remembered as "one of the most fearlessly principled guardians the Constitution has had or will have."

[Andy Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great biography about a great man. The book does a great job outlining Brennan's early life and background and the authors leave it up to the reader to see how his pre-Supreme Court personality made him so effective once he was on the Court. One example was that he represented corporations against labor unions for a number of years and despite the contentious nature of these cases, opposing litigators always ended up liking and respecting Brennan.That trait served him well while on the Court, he was good friends with many on the Court who did not always share his judicial philosophy, and sometimes those friendships allowed him to gain votes from those Justices on important cases.

Another example was his family's experience during World War II. Brennan left a very lucrative law practice to take a substantial pay cut and join the military, his age at the time would have prevented him from being drafted. Still, he did not think he made the sacrifice that his two brothers did, one was a German POW after being shot down and the other was killed by the Japanese in the Pacific front.

An especially interesting section was on his selection to the US Supreme Court by a President who was considerably more conservative than Brennan's later Supreme Court opinions--in fact, Eisenhower allegedly answered a question about any mistakes he made as a President by saying that he made two, and they were both on the Supreme Court. The authors describe the selection process which was perfunctory by today's standards. Eisenhower wanted a Catholic, someone from a state court and someone under a certain age--Brennan was one of the few who met that bill. At that time there was not the exhaustive staff and interest groups who researched every written opinion by a prospective justice.

The bulk of the book deals with Brennan's role as a Supreme Court justice. There is a nice balance between analysis of the decisions and the different rationales for them and the personalities on the court. The reader can choose to delve into the subtle differences between the judicial philos0phies of Warren, Black and Douglass which usually led to the same result(but may explain Black's later drift from the liberal block) and similar details or the reader can skim through that and read about how the Court decisions related to the politics of the day and about the personal relationships among the Justices.

This is not a quick, light read. But I recommend it highly for someone who wants to push themselves and learn about a great man and about American jurisprudence for the second half of the 20th century

[Colleen Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stephen Wermiel has written a balanced and fair account of one of our greatest Supreme Court Justices. The amount of research that went into writing this book is little short of amazing. From his birth to Irish immigrants and relatively modest upbringing to his appointment to the high court in New Jersey to his appointment to SCOTUS by Eisenhower, Brennan's life, both personal and professional, is documented in a highly readable and interesting book.

Brennan was the consummate high court justice, highly principled, indisputably honest, but able to compromise when it was demanded, he is an example for the ages. Although he rarely sought the limelight, Justice Brennan was able to form majorities on some of the most important cases of the day, though he deflected the credit arguing that he was part of a team. He was indeed part of a team but perhaps the most important part. On cases from Griswold to Miranda to Roe, he built majorities. Brennan believed that the Constitution is a living document able to accommodate a growing and ever-changing country. He believed that the equal protection under the law and due process in the 14th Amendment were fundamental to providing all people the opportunities they deserved.

His time on the Warren Court when justices such as Douglas and Marshall joined Warren, Brennan and Black to form the majority was the high mark of the liberal court. With retirements and deaths, forming a majority was more of a challenge for Brennan but he managed to do it to a remarkable degree. Justices like Blackmun, who no one believed would vote with Brennan did largely owing to his ability to find common ground and convince his fellow brethren of his point of view.

The book provides a great deal of insight into the workings of the Court at that time and is worth the read if only for that but it is so much more. I highly recommend this book.

[Kieran Healy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before picking up this book, I knew absolutely nothing about Justice Brennan, beyond some of his pithy statements against constitutional “originalism.” I am not a constitutional legal expert, though I have read extensively about the main players in the constitutional congress. So I figured I was in for a fawning biography, or perhaps a dry recounting of his life and jurisprudence. It lands somewhere in between. While ultimately I find it a mixed bag, it does show an astounding level of research and access, as well as providing a very fair critique of Brennan as both judge and a human.

As early as 1957, Brennan was already talking about his role as a justice in expansive terms and had clearly embraced an active role for the courts as an engine for social change. He did not feel bound simply to interpreting a static set of laws set forth in the Constitution or by prior court precedent. "Courts have a creative job to do when they find that a rule has lost its touch with reality and should be abandoned or reformulated to meet new conditions and new moral values,” Brennan said in a 1957 speech at Georgetown University. He invoked
the notion of a judge's creative function in a 1959 speech in which he rejected the idea that "THE LAW," as he wrote in his prepared remarks, is “some brooding omnipresence in the sky, wholly unconcerned with the broader, extra legal values pursued by society at large or the individual."

The most fascinating aspect of this book, due to the writers access to Brennan’s personal notes and files from his entire tenure, is what might be an unprecedented look at the inner workings of the Supreme Court. Using Brennan’s efforts at consensus building as its focus, the book shows how human foibles and office politics even affect the highest court in the land. Sometimes petty grievances and principle-busting compromises have ever lasting impact on the law. Ruth Bader Ginsburg makes a cameo mid way through the book, and her work as a lawyer definitely warrants the biopic made of her time arguing in court. She remains one of the most interesting “characters” to make her way into Brennan’s sphere.

In time, Brennan’s role in landmark cases that expanded voting rights, civil rights, extending constitutional rights to the state level and Roe v. Wade would make him a conservative punching bag to this very day. The authors pull no punches when showing that while Brennan was in fact a “Liberal Champion” and many of the results can be considered good, there were consequences to his decisions.

In truth, Brennan's influential tenure on the Court helped spark the judicial confirmation war that so appalled him. By making the courts an agent for social change, Brennan had helped to create a role for the Supreme Court that virtually ensured that the judicial nomination process would come to be seen as a political battleground.

Where I feel this book falls short is in it’s focus. I think in an attempt to show Brennan’s role in every landmark case, too much time was devoted to his dissenting opinions. Additionally, to those readers like me who had never heard of Baker v. Carr or perhaps another case, it would have been helpful to clarify up front how it impacted the law up front rather than diving into a case without much explanation. There were times I felt a little lost as to why I was reading about a certain case. That being said, 3 decades of active judicial work is a lot to try and fit into 550 pages. The authors were smart to blow past Brennan’s first 50 years of life in a scant 70 pages, and avoided getting too deep into his personal life. I suspect it was not all that interesting to begin with, but even so it played almost no role in his work on the bench.

I also felt that the authors could have spent more time on the rise of “originalism” as the antagonist of “liberal judicial activism.” Personally, I consider originalism promoted by the likes of Antonio Scalia an abomination of constitutional interpretation. It is ignorant of the reality of how the Constitution was created. Brennan was an outspoken critic of the theory. I feel like the authors did not take it seriously, though there was no way they could have known that there would be 5 strict constructionists on the bench 10 years after their publication. But it is an interesting counter to Brennan’s approach that could have used more than a few pages.

If you want to learn more about the Supreme Court or Justice Brennan, this is a great book. While the writing is dry, and it’s sorely lacking in some ways, I found it worth the while. I would NOT suggest this for a casual reader, it might get a little too into the weeds for those folks uninterested in an academic exercise and looking for an entertaining biography.

[Tim Huang · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough biography of one of the most influential liberal Supreme Court justices. In his long tenure on the Supreme Court, Brennan broke ground on scores of controversial topics: judging the death penalty as cruel and unusual punishment, ensuring unsympathetic defendants (ie suspected communists) have access to evidence, protecting affirmative action, finding the right to dignity and privacy in the Consitution (and extending the latter to abortion), extending the Bill of Rights to states, etc. As impressive as his legacy sounds to liberals, it also became a lightning rod for conservatives (some of whom would join Brennan on the Court), who accused Brennan of judicial activism and inserting his own beliefs into the Constitution.

Behind the scenes, Brennan was equally, if not more, influential as a consensus builder. I was surprised by the amount of politics that goes into deciding whether to hear a case, who gets to write the majority opinion, how drafts are circulated, when to write a concurring opinion vs joining the majority opinion etc. At his peak, Brennan was a master pragmatist; he was able to find a majority and give off the impression that the Court was far more unified than it actually was.

I wish more of the book focused on landmark cases rather than Brennan's personal life. Admittedly, I began reading this book because I wanted to learn more about the history of the Supreme Court, with no particular interest in Brennan specifically. But I'm glad to have picked it up, even if it was slightly different than I expected.

[Charles Cohen · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Brennan did more for civil rights and for those whose voices are rarely heard in rooms of powerful men than almost anyone else in the US during the 20th century. This book did a terrific job of exploring what drove him, what allowed him to have so much success, and how regularly his personal behavior often failed to live up to those ideals. I just wished it explored more of his failures.

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Justice Brennan” provides the most comprehensive and well organized look at the liberal jurist to date. Too bad it was not released closer to his death in 1997. Wermiel had recorded 60 interviews with Brennan and had access to all his paper; apparently he had completed part of the book when Brennan died. In 2006 Wermiel brought in Seth stein who reorganized the vast amount of material and drafted most of the chapter. The authors attempted to reveal the complicated man beneath. Brennan hated pornography but ruled it was permissible, and disapproved of abortion (he was a Catholic) but protected it. Brennan was intensely private about his private life this made it more difficult for the authors. In the decades since, Brennan has come to be seen as the epic strategist and deal-maker who coordinated many of the Warren Courts major decisions behind the scenes. Where the book truly soars is in the account of Brennan’s skills at “getting to five:” finding a way to bring together five fractious votes for a new principle or doctrine, or seeding some future principle or doctrine between the lines. The book reveals he was so attuned to the concerns and passions of his colleagues that he was able to draft opinions, or help them draft opinions in ways that would achieve five votes. Brennan, champion of women’s rights, would not hire a female clerk until a great deal of pressure was applied. He only had two female clerks during his long service on the court. The book also reveals his difficulty in adjusting to the presence of a female colleague and the rocky relationship he had with Sandra Day O’Connor during their nine terms together on the court. Twenty-nine years ago this coming September, Justice William J. Brennan engaged Attorney General Edwin Meese in the unprecedented public debate on constitutional interpretation. This debate is covered in detail in the book and makes it one of the most exciting sections of the book. Overall I greatly enjoyed reading this book. “Justice Brennan” is a most informative account of what the man achieved. The authors were successful in writing a scrupulously fair-mind book. I read this as an e-book via my kindle app on my Ipad.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

quite an interesting read. especially if you aren't as familiar with the supreme court justices as you perhaps ought to be. justice brennan was one of those truly rare and wonderful men who was not afraid of his own humanity and really believed in making the world a better place to live in...for ALL of us. made me realize that i'm far too cynical about things that i know far too little about. and that's a good thing (the realization, that is). this book helped me to regain a little of my sense of faith in humanity and in the potential for positive change still resting in this nation. oh, and it isn't nearly as dry as the biography of a supreme court justice status suggests it might be, far from it.

[Harry Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

The importance of the Supreme Court in American life is often overlooked. It is true that some few decisions provoke public attention and sometimes virulent opposition, but in the main, the effects are indirect. This biography is authorized and draws on a vast range of materials and interviews to paint a detailed picture of the man and his work. It strikes me as balanced and realistic, neither too admiring nor iconoclastic. It is readable and accessible, but goes into reasonable detail concerning cases before the court that help a layman understand the issues and the perspectives driving the opinions. Definitely worthwhile reading.

[Steven Peterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do you want to know more about Supreme Court Justice William Brennan? This is a good resource. The book is functionally written; the prose does not sing. But the work traces his life in detail from birth to his retirement from the Court in 1990 to the last part of his life. The book gives a good sense of Brennan-the-man. The volume also does a nice job outlining his judicial career and key moments of his tenure.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best judicial biography I've read. Includes an incredible amount of detail and yet maintains easy readability. The anecdotes were fun and humanizing. The descriptions of complicated court cases and constitutional concepts were so clear and accessible to anyone without a JD. The amount of research that went into the book is staggering. Read this book!

[Rick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excited. I grabbed this off the Biography shelves at Camden Public Library the other day, sat down, and proceeded to tear-through the middle 100 pages ... about his nomination and elevation to the High Court. I look forward to getting to the parts about the apex of his power on the Court (1964-70), when he essentially Constitutionalized the entire New Deal and Great Society.

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great biography about one of the greatest Justices of all time. He still does not get his due.

[Tim Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

New York Times v. Sullivan (1964). Baker v. Carr (1962). Malloy v. Hogan (1964). By any measure three of the landmark cases to come from the United States Supreme Court. And each came from the pen of Justice William J. Brennan. Not that those three are the extent of his impact on 20th Century America...but if they were it would be a far-reaching and important impact. Brennan was certainly among the most impactful associate justices of the Supreme Court, generally finding his way on to any top ten list for most important S.C. justices. And his impact on cases which he didn't author was just as great. Brennan was the field general for much of Earl Warren's time as Chief Justice. And he was the focal point for the liberal wing of the Court during the Burger and until his retirement during the Rehnquist Court.

Stephen Wermiel was given unprecedented access to Justice Brennan's files after his retirement but before his death. After Wermiel got bogged down, Seth Stern came in and helped finish the book. While it's a biography, this is very much a look at Brennan the Supreme Court Justice. His life before he goes on the bench in D.C. is disposed of in about 70 pages. And...well that's probably fine. Honestly, Brennan's personal life was kind of boring. I'm sure it wasn't for him...but he certainly wasn't a William O. Douglas, who had a pretty wild life outside the Court. So, really this is a book that's mostly going to appeal to law geeks, particularly Con Law wonks.

Because of the access that the authors had to Brennan's files this is a very good look at the inner workings of the Warren and the Burger Court's. And while they don't hide their feelings about Justice Brennan and his jurisprudence they don't quite fall in to the book being a hagiography. They make it clear that Brennan could be caustic in his dissents, particularly in the later years, something that soured his relationship with Justice O'Connor very early in her tenure. In fact, so much so that it may well have significantly slowed her drift to the center of the Court. He was also very uncomfortable with female law clerks and had few during his time on the Court.

If you're a Con Law or a Supreme Court wonk this is a must read. For me it was a reminder of what we've lost in the last fifty years as the Court has moved to a point far further right than it's been, arguably, since the Taney Court.

[Chris Lund · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Justice Scalia so accurately observed, William Brennan was probably the most influential judge of the 20th Century. The incredible degree of intimate, direct access the authors had to Brennan himself, his clerks, his family, and his files really made this an insightful read with a ton of exclusive and previously unknown information. What's really fascinating is the way Brennan managed to maneuver the complex internal politics of the court to so frequently accomplish his goals, sometimes even when he was in the minority. Reading this left me nostalgic for a time when the Supreme Court was much more of a force for good, but also left me optimistic that maybe one day we'll see a renaissance of that type of court once again.

[Julia Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To strike another blow for freedom allows a man to walk a little taller and raise his head a little higher. And while he can, he must."- Justice Brennan, "What the Constitution Requires", NYT, April 28 1996.

There isn't much I can add here that the other comments haven't addressed. The work was excellent, but it was also a lot. I learned a lot about the inner functionings of the court and the big supreme court issues of the mid-late 20th century. Mostly I am left with an appreciation for his relentless fight to create the America we wish we were.

[Will Leszinske · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read that takes a really even-handed approach between covering Brennan’s judicial triumphs in securing rights for women, minorities, poor, criminal defendants, and a whole host of others while also criticizing his self-defeating or contradictory actions. Just really, really well written

[Salparadise7 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

[Jim Cullison · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very well-written, I just lost interest after the first 200 pages.

[Daniel Stylianou · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant book. It was long and quite detailed in some places - perhaps too much so - but the biography is of a great man and it does him justice.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seems odd to read of a Supreme Court Justice who had financial troubles......and would have bridled at accepting "gifts" from "friends."

[Gordon Kwok · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book about one of the most influential SCOTUS in history. A man who is largely responsible for the concept of "dignity" as an extension of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution. If you are a lawyer or have a legal background, reading the different stories about how he got the 5 votes necessary to decide an issue is epic. Highly recommended book.

[Bill · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting only for Supreme Court geeks and/or Brennan fanatics. (Or Brennan haters, I guess, because I'm sure this book offers plenty of fuel to keep the hate flames alive. From a policy perspective I agree with nearly all of Brennan's decisions, and even I was irritated by some of his free-flowing "dignity of the person" based jurisprudence.)

Brennan is one of my heroes. But it has to be said that, in the realm of Supreme Court Justices, Brennan was not a great writer or brilliant thinker. What makes Brennan compelling is his amazing ability to count to five--that is, his ability to forge relationships with other justices who disagree with him about nearly everything, and then craft an opinion on a difficult issue that can attract and retain the votes of five justices. And to do that for nearly 40 years. As a result he produced a long string of 5-4 decisions in which he held together an unlikely majority against what seemed impossible odds. That's an interesting story, but an unavoidable result of Brennan's approach is that those decisions won't, as a body, yield a coherent, over-arching theory of jurisprudence. (Compare to Justice Scalia, who sticks to intellectual purity whose writing is loved or at least respected by all...he doesn't care who he offends and makes no efforts to persuade others. It's easy to look at his work and say his reasoning is clearer and rhetorically more powerful. But if he were willing to be a bit more accommodating to the views of others, how many of those satisfying dissents would be somewhat less satisfying majority opinions?)

So reviewing the decisions as a body of work is not terribly satisfying. The story of how he held together his coalitions is somewhat interesting but ultimately only mildly so, maybe because we don't get enough salacious details there. Best parts of the book to me were the small details that illuminate what life was like in the relevant time period.

[David Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough and sympathetic biography of one of the most important figures to ever sit on the Supreme Court. It is also a fine depiction of the relationship between the Court and the American people, fraught as it is with the competing interests of ideology, justice, and the public's intense desire to see the law affirm its own prejudices. Somehow, amidst all this controversy, progressive ideas can survive if someone is willing to stand up for them.

The authors rarely take a position on Brennan's judicial philosophy as such, more often noting how the changes in the court's ideological composition and the success or failure of his arguments affected him on a personal level. Perhaps that would be disappointing for people who want to see that kind of liberalism roundly celebrated, or unsatisfying for those who'd rather see it excoriated. But the authors do not fail in showing both of those reactions from Brennan's allies and critics, and it is never left in doubt that Brennan's work on the court was a defining influence on the shape of today's law.

The book also depicts (though it does not focus much on) the sometimes harsh contrast between Brennan's aggressively progressive judicial work, and his own personal actions and opinions with regard to race and gender. The limitations of "liberalism" as an antidote to oppression are not really touched on, except as personal failings of liberals. A deeper perspective which delved more into truly radical politics as something other than a matter of troubling concern to the middle class would be appreciated.

[Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was impressed by Justice Brennan - the book and the man. The book provided a thorough overview of his life with emphasis on his work on the Supreme Court and his rulings' significance (aided by its authorship by a lawyer-journalist). It helped that the subject was just an all-around likeable guy. I thought the author was balanced, noting Brennan's 'selective incorporation’ of the Bill of Rights to the states was somewhat arbitrary, and that Brennan didn't accept precedent that went against his beliefs. Brennan was described as a moderate voice on obscenity issues and was perhaps most renown for his defense of the rights of the accused (although he took a lot of heat as a Catholic for his concurring vote in Roe v. Wade).
It was interesting to read of the other justices’ views of Brennan (Stewart noting him to be ‘too reflexively liberal’ and Powell saying he was a kind guy until he writes dissenting opinions). Like most Americans, the workings of the Court were a mystery to me - thus the book was a revelation in explaining the shifting dynamics of factions of justices, and the strategic circulating of memos. The book noted how Brennan made the difficult choice to discount his elder colleague, William Douglas', votes during a period of the latter’s debilitation. He contented himself with serving almost 34 years on the Court and retired in 1990 before his health prevented his ability to function effectively (despite doing so during a Republican administration). His influence lives on today - one of Brennan's law clerks is now serving as the Attorney General.

[Bob H · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a magisterial history of a Supreme Court justice, not so much a biography -- though that it is -- but a story of his times. Indeed, his term spanned the 1950s to 1990, from the Eisenhower years to George H. W. Bush, a tumultuous and important period in the Court in which he had a pivotal role. We see the major cases -- school prayer, free speech, reproductive choice, death penalty -- but we also see how Brennan would defend those cases in later terms, as new colleagues and new Chief Justices came and went.

The author has also provided us with a rare look at the workings of the Court, the behind-the-scenes debates and intrigue, especially on close decisions -- the decision that seemed so decisive in hindsight was often a tossup in the writing, and in the shifting views of the Justices themselves. And the Justices, many of them historic figures, come off the page as vivid and compelling personalities, and this work can provide some surprising insights into their work, not just Brennan's. For all its length, this book still seems a compelling and readable look at a critical branch of U.S. government.

Indispensable to those interested in the history of American law, of civil liberties and civil rights, and of American history in general.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel provide an excellent (although very pro) biography of Supreme Court Justice William Brennan. Brennan was one of the longest serving justices in modern history celebrating around forty years on the court. He was in the majority opinions more often than most and was a crucial swing player in Supreme Court politics. If you want a real nitty gritty look at the major cases of the modern era from Baker v. Carr to Roe v. Wade you can see Brennan's influence running throughout. He was the whip of Earl Warren within the Supreme Court authoring many opinions that helped to hold together fragile majorities on a variety of issue. You also get a great look at Brennan's personal life from his time at UPenn and Harvard to his brief tenure as a justice for the Supreme Court of New Jersey. His elevation was largely based upon his youth and his religion which satisfied the political needs of Eisenhower. Overall a very interesting book and well worth the read for those interested in Supreme Court history

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was a review for me of the work of the Warren Court during the time I was in law school and when I was a new lawyer. Since this was the Golden Age of American Law I felt a lot of remorse reading about it. Brennan was never a super star judge, and it is amazing that the author was totally blind to Sandra Day O'Conner's pivotal role on the court. Indeed Brennan turns out to be someone who talked the talk but he could not bring himself to actually personally accord equality to women. This was the only big reveal in the book. As many biographers do, the author creates a universe that revolves around Brennan. Not a realistic assessment in my view. This isn't a book for everyone, the writing is not sparkling, but it is a fine review for lawyers of a certain age. The real enduring value of the book lies in its lucid case descriptions and clear explanations of the great legal issues before the supreme court during Brennan's tenure.