William Joseph Brennan, Jr.

Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States Term in office
October 16, 1956 – July 20, 1990
Preceded by	Sherman Minton
Succeeded by	David Souter
Born	April 25, 1905 Newark, New Jersey
Died	July 24, 1997 Washington, D.C., USA

William Joseph Brennan, Jr. (April 25, 1905 – July 24, 1997) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Known for his outspoken liberal views and his belief in the expansion of personal liberty, he is considered to be among the Court's most influential members. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1040x1502, 106 KB) Description Official portrait of Justice William J. Brennan, taken in early 1976. ... Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States. ... October 16 is the 289th day of the year (290th in leap years). ... 1956 (MCMLVI) was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining. ... This article is about the year. ... Sherman Minton, (October 20, 1890–April 9, 1965) was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana and an associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ... David Hackett Souter (born September 17, 1939) has been an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1990. ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (116th in leap years). ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Nickname: The Brick City Map of Newark in Essex County Coordinates: County Essex Founded/Incorporated 1666/1836 Mayor Cory Booker, term of office 2006–2010 Area    - City 67. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ... July 24 is the 205th day (206th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 160 days remaining. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nickname: DC, The District Motto: Justitia Omnibus (Justice for All) Location of Washington, D.C., in relation to the states Maryland and Virginia. ... April 25 is the 115th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (116th in leap years). ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... July 24 is the 205th day (206th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 160 days remaining. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States are the members of the Supreme Court of the United States other than the Chief Justice of the United States. ... The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and is the only part of the judicial branch of the United States federal government explicitly specified in the United States Constitution. ... Look up liberal on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Liberal may refer to: Politics: Liberalism American liberalism, a political trend in the USA Political progressivism, a political ideology that is for change, often associated with liberal movements Liberty, the condition of being free from control or restrictions Liberal Party, members of... Statue of Liberty - Liberty is one meaning of freedom. Freedom may mean any of the following: the British newspaper, Freedom in music: the 1989 album by Neil Young, Freedom a song by Rage Against the Machine a song by Richie Havens geographically: a town in New York, USA; Freedom a...

Early life

Brennan was the second of eight children. His parents, William and Agnes (McDermott) Brennan, were Irish immigrants. They met in the United States, although both were originally from County Roscommon in Ireland. His father had little education; he worked as a metal polisher. However, he rose to a position of leadership, serving as the Commissioner of Public Safety for the city of Newark from 1917 to 1930. Statistics Province: Connacht County Town: Roscommon Code: RN Area: 2,547 km² (983 mi²) Population (2006) 58,700 Website: www. ... Nickname: The Brick City Map of Newark in Essex County Coordinates: County Essex Founded/Incorporated 1666/1836 Mayor Cory Booker, term of office 2006–2010 Area    - City 67. ...

Brennan attended public schools in Newark, New Jersey, graduating from Barringer High School. He then attended Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a degree in Economics in 1928. While at the University, he was a member of Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. Nickname: The Brick City Map of Newark in Essex County Coordinates: County Essex Founded/Incorporated 1666/1836 Mayor Cory Booker, term of office 2006–2010 Area    - City 67. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ... The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is a business school at the University of Pennsylvania, USA. The school was founded by Joseph Wharton, who also was one of the founders of Swarthmore College (founded in 1864), in 1881 as the first collegiate business school in the United States. ... The University of Pennsylvania (or Penn[3][4]) is a private, nonsectarian research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Face-to-face trading interactions among on the New York Stock Exchange trading floor Economics, as a social science, studies the production, distribution, and consumption of resources. ... Delta Tau Delta (ΔΤΔ, DTD, Delts) is a U.S.-based international college fraternity. ...

Brennan married Marjorie Leonard, and cheated on her with Jeremy Talley, who he had met in high school, when he was 21. They eventually had three children: William, Nancy and Hugh. Brennan completed his law degree at Harvard in 1931 and entered private practice in his home state of New Jersey. He practiced labor law. He entered the Army as a Major in March 1942, and left as a Colonel in 1945. He did legal work for the ordnance division. In 1949, Brennan was appointed to the Superior Court (a Trial court) by Governor of New Jersey Alfred E. Driscoll. In 1951, Driscoll appointed him to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Harvard University is a private university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a member of the Ivy League. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ... This article is in need of attention. ... The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States armed forces and has primary responsibility for land-based military operations. ... Major is a military rank the use of which varies according to country. ... Colonel (IPA: or ) is a military rank of a commissioned officer, with the corresponding ranks existing in nearly every country in the world. ... A trial court or court of first instance is the court in which most civil or criminal cases begin. ... The Governor of New Jersey is the chief executive of the U.S. state of New Jersey. ... Alfred Eastlack Driscoll (October 25, 1902–March 9, 1975) of Haddonfield, New Jersey, was a state senator (1939-1941) representing Camden County, Governor of New Jersey, and president of Warner-Lambert (now a part of Pfizer). ... The New Jersey Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. ...

Supreme Court

Brennan was named to the U.S. Supreme Court through a recess appointment by Dwight Eisenhower in 1956, shortly before the 1956 presidential election. Presidential advisers thought the appointment of a Catholic Democrat from the northeast would woo critical voters in the upcoming election for Eisenhower, a Republican. He was confirmed by the United States Senate with only Senator Joseph McCarthy dissenting. He filled the seat vacated by Justice Sherman Minton. He held the post until his retirement on July 20, 1990 for health reasons; he was succeeded on the Court by Justice David Souter. Brennan then taught at Georgetown University Law Center until 1994. With 1,360 opinions, he is second only to William O. Douglas in number of opinions written while a Supreme Court justice. A recess appointment occurs when the President of the United States fills a vacant Federal position during a recess of the United States Senate. ... Dwight David Ike Eisenhower (October 14, 1890–March 28, 1969), American soldier and politician, was the 34th President of the United States (1953–1961) and supreme commander of the Allied forces in Europe during World War II, with the rank of General of the Army. ... Presidential electoral votes by state. ... The Democratic Party is one of two major political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party. ... Seal of the U.S. Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress, the other being the House of Representatives. ... Joseph Raymond McCarthy (November 14, 1908 – May 2, 1957) was a Republican U.S. Senator from the state of Wisconsin between 1947 and 1957. ... Sherman Minton, (October 20, 1890–April 9, 1965) was a Democratic United States Senator from Indiana and an associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ... July 20 is the 201st day (202nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 164 days remaining. ... This article is about the year. ... David Hackett Souter (born September 17, 1939) has been an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States since 1990. ... The schools original sign, preserved on the north quad of the present-day campus. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. ...

Warren Court

An outspoken liberal throughout his career, he played a leading role in the Warren Court's dramatic expansion of individual rights. Brennan played a large behind-the-scenes role during the Warren Court, coaxing more conservative colleagues to join the Court's decisions. Brennan's opinions with respect to voting (Baker v. Carr), criminal proceedings (Malloy v. Hogan), the free speech and establishment clauses of the First Amendment (Roth v. United States), and civil rights (Green v. New Kent County) were some of the most important opinions of the Warren Era. Brennan's role in expanding speech rights under the First Amendment is particularly notable, as he wrote the opinion of the court in 1964's New York Times v. Sullivan, which created constitutional restrictions on the law of libel. It was Brennan who coined the phrase "chilling effect", in 1965's Dombrowski v. Pfister. Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney of Alameda County, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). ... Holding The reapportionment of state legislative districts is not a political question, and is justiciable by the federal courts. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... Roth v. ... The first ten Amendments to the U.S. Constitution make up the Bill of Rights. ... Holding The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, protected a newspaper from being sued for libel in state court for making false defamatory statements about the official conduct of a public official, because the statements were not made with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth. ... In English and American law, and systems based on them, libel and slander are two forms of defamation (or defamation of character), which is the tort or delict of making a false statement of fact that injures someones reputation. ...

Burger and Rehnquist Court

On the more moderate Burger Court, Brennan was a staunch opponent of the death penalty, and a supporter of abortion rights, and joined the majority in landmark rulings on both issues (1972's Furman v. Georgia on the death penalty and 1973's Roe v. Wade on abortion). With the accession of the most conservative member of the court, William Rehnquist to the position of Chief Justice, and the replacement of moderates Warren Burger and Lewis Powell with conservatives Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, Brennan found himself more frequently isolated. At times his opinions would be joined only by Thurgood Marshall, as by 1975 the two were the last remaining liberal justices of the Warren Court (Byron White was the third survivor of the Warren Court during Rehnquist's tenure, but he generally sided with the conservatives). Brennan declared in Furman that he believed the death penalty violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on "cruel and unusual" punishment, and for his remaining years on the bench he and Marshall dissented from every case upholding the imposition of the death penalty. He was able to convince no other justice of this view, though Justice Harry Blackmun would eventually agree in 1994-- after Brennan's retirement. Warren Burger at a press conference in May 1969 shortly after he was nominated to be Chief Justice of the United States. ... Capital punishment, or the death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. ... Holding The arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. ... Holding Texas laws criminalizing abortion violated womens Fourteenth Amendment right to choose whether to continue a pregnancy. ... William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure, who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. ... Warren Burger at a press conference in May 1969 shortly after he was nominated to be Chief Justice of the United States. ... Lewis Franklin Powell, Jr. ... Antonin Gregory Scalia (born March 11, 1936) is an American jurist and the second most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Anthony Kennedy For other people of the same name, see Anthony Kennedy (disambiguation). ... Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney of Alameda County, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). ... Byron White, official portrait. ... Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney of Alameda County, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). ... William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure, who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. ... Justice Harry Blackmun Harry Andrew Blackmun (November 12, 1908 – March 4, 1999) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 to 1994. ...

In his penultimate and final terms on the Court, he wrote the controversial rulings for Texas v. Johnson and United States v. Eichman, respectively. In both cases, the Court held that the First Amendment protects flag desecration. Holding A Texas statute that criminalized the desecration of the American flag violated the First Amendment. ... United States vs. ...

Brennan's wife Marjorie died in 1982. A few months later, in 1983, he married Mary Fowler, who had served as his secretary for 26 years. He was 77 years old. Brennan's colleagues learned of his second marriage via a short office memo stating, "Mary Fowler and I were married yesterday and we have gone to Bermuda."

Judicial philosophy

Brennan's conservative detractors, while acknowledging his legal acumen, thought him the embodiment of the worst features of judicial activism. Brennan's general strategy on cases was to acknowledge the validity of the governmental interest justifying the given law, but to find the law in question not narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. Thus, Brennan generally shied away from the absolutist positions of Justices Hugo Black and William O. Douglas, though he agreed with many of the results they would reach in cases involving individual rights. Judicial activism is the tendency of some judges to take a flexible view of their power of judicial interpretation, especially when such judges import subjective reasoning that displaces objective evaluation of applicable law. ... Hugo Black Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27, 1886 – September 25, 1971) was a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (1937 - 1971). ... William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. ...

In the 1980s, as the Reagan Admistration and the Rehnquist Court threatened to "roll back" the decisions of the Warren Court, Brennan became more vocal about his jurisprudential views. In a 1985 speech at Georgetown University, Brennan criticized Attorney General Edwin Meese's call for a "jurisprudence of original intention" as "arrogance cloaked as humility" and advocated reading the U.S. Constitution to protect rights of "human dignity." Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure, who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. ... Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was a California district attorney of Alameda County, the 30th Governor of California, and the 14th Chief Justice of the United States (from 1953 to 1969). ... Edwin Meese III Edwin Ed Meese III (born December 2, 1931 in Oakland, California) served as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States (1985-1988). ...

Brennan was also less interested in stare decisis or the avoidance of "absolutist" positions where the death penalty was concerned. Brennan and Thurgood Marshall concluded in Furman v. Georgia that the death penalty was, in all circumstances, unconstitutional, and never accepted the legitimacy of Gregg v. Georgia, which ruled that the death penalty was constitutional three years later. Thereafter, Brennan or Marshall took turns, joined by the other, in mechanically issuing a dissent in every denial of certiorari in a capital case, and from every decision in a case which the court did take which failed to vacate a sentence of death. (See Woodward, The Brethren; Lazarus, Closed Chambers.) Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American jurist and the first African American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Holding The arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments, and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. ... Holding The imposition of the death penalty does not, automatically, violate the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment. ... Bob Woodward Robert Upshur Bob Woodward (born March 26, 1943) is assistant managing editor of The Washington Post. ...

Trivia

The D.C.-based indie rock band Fugazi wrote the song "Dear Justice Letter" in tribute to Brennan after his retirement from the court, presumably as the band shares many of his social and political beliefs. This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

The building in Jersey City, New Jersey where Brennan served as an Assignment Judge is named the Willam J. Brennan Jr. Courthouse.^[1] Location of Jersey City within New Jersey. ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  Ranked 47th  - Total 8,729 sq mi (22,608 km²)  - Width 70 miles (110 km)  - Length 150 miles (240 km)  - % water 14. ...

Quotes by Brennan

• "[W]e consider this case against the background of a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials." In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 1964.

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

William J. Brennan, Jr.

Holding The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, protected a newspaper from being sued for libel in state court for making false defamatory statements about the official conduct of a public official, because the statements were not made with knowing or reckless disregard for the truth. ... Image File history File links Wikiquote-logo-en. ... Wikiquote is a sister project of Wikipedia, using the same MediaWiki software. ...

See also

• Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law

The Warren Court
1956–1957:	H. Black | S.F. Reed | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | H.H. Burton | T.C. Clark | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan
1957–1958:	H. Black | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | H.H. Burton | T.C. Clark | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | C.E. Whittaker
1958–1962:	H. Black | F. Frankfurter | Wm. O. Douglas | T.C. Clark | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | C.E. Whittaker | P. Stewart
1962–1965:	H. Black | Wm. O. Douglas | T.C. Clark | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | A.J. Goldberg
1965–1967:	H. Black | Wm. O. Douglas | T.C. Clark | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | A. Fortas
1967–1969:	H. Black | Wm. O. Douglas | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | A. Fortas | T. Marshall
The Burger Court
1969:	H. Black | Wm. O. Douglas | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | A. Fortas | T. Marshall
1970–1971:	H. Black | Wm. O. Douglas | J.M. Harlan II | Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | T. Marshall | H. Blackmun
1972–1975:	Wm. O. Douglas | Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | T. Marshall | H. Blackmun | L.F. Powell, Jr. | Wm. Rehnquist
1975–1981:	Wm. J. Brennan | P. Stewart | B. White | T. Marshall | H. Blackmun | L.F. Powell, Jr. | Wm. Rehnquist | J.P. Stevens
1981–1986:	Wm. J. Brennan | B. White | T. Marshall | H. Blackmun | L.F. Powell, Jr. | Wm. Rehnquist | J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor
The Rehnquist Court
1986–1987:	Wm. J. Brennan | B. White | T. Marshall | H. Blackmun | L.F. Powell, Jr. | J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor | A. Scalia
1988–1990:	Wm. J. Brennan | B. White | T. Marshall | H. Blackmun | J.P. Stevens | S.D. O'Connor | A. Scalia | A. Kennedy