Customer Reviews

A Justice for All: William J. Brennan, Jr., and the Decisions That Transformed America

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Justice Brennan was nominated by President Eisenhower with an assumption that he would be a conservative and vote against Chief Justice Earl Warren. Brennan became one of a long line of justices to shock the president that appointed them by being farther to the left. That list includes Blackmun, Souter, Stevens, and Warren as well. Brennan's appointment happened very quickly with a minimum of checking on his background. He was a New Jersey Supreme Court judge who had come from a distinguished career in private practice, a stint in military intelligence during World War II, and from a civic minded family with a former city commissioner father. If you have read that last sentence, you probably know more about Brennan's background then Eisenhower did.

The book covers Brennan's early history but really takes off when he arrives on the court. The author does a good job linking Brennan's views to earlier events in his life and earlier decisions on the New Jersey court, demonstrating that he did not really change that much on core issues. Although firmly encamped in the court's liberal wing, Brennan preferred to operate quietly and make compromises to shape majority opinions rather than lonely dissents. He worked closely with Chief Justice Warren and was never fully comfortable with the two other chiefs he served with. Except on the death penalty and later years when other strong liberals were mostly absent from the court, Brennan was more of a back room operator than the public face of the liberal wing.

Brennan's influence can be felt in issues still with us today. Some are mostly settled now and uncontroversial, for example most of the criminal procedure protections Brennan supported. Others remain hot button issues including affirmative action, choice, and the death penalty. Brennan was not always in the winning side on these cases, though he usually salvaged something. In the Bakke case on affirmative action, the specific program at issue was struck down but the decision established a framework that allowed other affirmative action programs to operate for the next thirty years.

Beyond insights into Brennan, the book gives insights into how the court operated primarily in the Warren and Burger years. The conferences were passionate, the justices worked hard, and people could be persuaded. I hope the court still operates that way today, though I have my doubts.

I read the 1993 edition of the book which was written before Brennan's death and has a minimum of retrospective material on Brennan's life and career by others besides the author. She did come out with a newer edition in 2003 that I would recommend instead. I am confident it only enhances this easy to read account of Brennan and the court he spent over thirty years on.

I became interested in Justice Brennan after reading the brilliant book The Brethren by Bob Woodward. Brennan came across as the most interesting Justice in that book (although they all came off as people one would like to read about).

Eisler's book is good, gives a readable account of Brennan's life and accomplishments in and out of the court. I would like to have seen some more opinions on Brennan from other sources after his retirement but apart from that, a good account of a groundbreaking Justice.