Customer Reviews

Louis D. Brandeis: Justice for the People

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Louis Brandeis, law student and lawyer extraordinaire, advisor to a number of Presidents (especially Woodrow Wilson) and one of our greatest most visionary Supreme Court Justices, makes for the subject of a compelling biography. As we learn from Phillip Strum, here was a man who was already considered to be a genuis when he attended Harvard Law School, and graduated number one in the class at a younger age than anyone else. He went on to fame and fortune as an attorney, by devouring information regarding the matter at hand (assisted by his near photographic memory), and truly believing that with logic and persuasion, any conflict could be resolved. He invented the "Brandeis Brief," in which he would go far beyond the usual four corners to which lawyers normally confine themselves, by discussing sociological and other concerns beyond the traditional law. One of his core beliefs was that state and local governments should be given free reign to "experiment" for the common good. Whether it was about the insurance industry, railroads, or management-labor disputes, Brandeis despised monopolies and big corporations, and felt that the state and local governments could and should discourage them, and find ways for smaller businesses to thrive. Brandeis' credo was basically that the common man had extraordinary potential if society would only foster same, but limitations as well, especially when attempting to run a large company that could not mutually benefit management and labor.

Later on in life, he became an ardent supporter and important figure in the Zionist movement, and almost single-handedly convinced skeptical prominant American Jews to support the cause. As a Supreme Court Justice, he and his close friend, Oliver Wendell Holmes, would often dissent from opinions in which the majority would strike down governmental attempts to regulate business and property, and improve society's lot. However, during FDR's presidency, the Holmes/Brandeis position became the majority.

While it is certainly difficult to capture the breadth of Brandeis' life in a signal volume of managable length, Phillipa Strum does an admirable job here. However, I have to say that Strum often spends too much time on subjects that I, quite frankly, found exceptionally dry, such as insurance and railroad disputes. On the other hand, I felt that the section on Brandeis as a Supreme Court Justice felt rushed and unsatisfying. In the end, the persona of Louis Brandeis remained elusive, as if one can really never get to know him (albeit this might have been intentional). Further, Strum provides little context of the contemporary political issues in America, and the impact that the Holmes/Brandeis dissents (which laid the foundation of later majority decisions and was vital to Roosevelt's "New Deal"), impacted on society.

Still, for anyone interested in the life of this great man, I can recommend this book, but it takes a bit of effort to stick with it.