Justice Brennan : liberal champion /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Stern, Seth (Seth Ross), 1975-
Imprint:Boston : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.
Description:xiv, 674 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
Language:English
Subject:Brennan, William J. -- 1906-1997.
Brennan, William J., -- 1906-1997.
United States. -- Supreme Court.
Judges -- United States -- Biography.
Judges.
United States.
Biography.
Format: Print Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/8147642
Hidden Bibliographic Details
Other authors / contributors:Wermiel, Stephen.
ISBN:9780547149257
0547149255
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Summary: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.
Review by New York Times Review

THE story of this book is really two stories, and only one of them is about Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr. As Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel explain in an authors' note, Brennan first agreed to cooperate on a biography with Wermiel, then the Supreme Court correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, in 1986. Brennan granted more than 60 recorded interviews in chambers and gave Wermiel access to tens of thousands of pages of records, including case files, correspondence and the coveted case histories his clerks had prepared each term. Wermiel completed part of the book before Brennan's death in 1997, then, as he explains, put the project aside. He came under criticism, most notably from Jeffrey Toobin of The New Yorker, for his unparalleled access to documents closed to other researchers and for "what little he has managed to make of it," That was in 2004. In 2006, Wermiel brought Stern, of Congressional Quarterly, to the project and, their note continues, it was Stern who reorganized the vast amounts of material and drafted most of the chapters. "Justice Brennan" provides the most comprehensive and well-organized look at the legendary liberal jurist to date. Stern and Wermiel dig below the popular cliché of Bill Brennan as the Constitution's Gene Kelly - all twinkling eyes and glad-to-see-ya Irish charm - to reveal the complicated (and quite conservative) man beneath. But the book is weakened by the long delay from conception to completion. With the release in recent years of, among other things, Lewis Powell's, Harry Blackmun's and some of Ruth Bader Ginsburg's papers, plus the access granted Jim Newton to some of Brennan's case histories for his 2006 book on the Warren court, "Justice Brennan" is very late to the party. There is a sense, at times, that Brennan has slipped away. The many interviews with the justice don't always illuminate matters. They reveal a Brennan who frequently recast interpersonal conflicts into neat, mutually satisfactory resolutions (like the episode of a 1966 clerkship he offered, then rescinded, to a Berkeley student with controversial political views). The interviews were also very likely limited by the fact that despite his gregarious exterior, Brennan was intensely private about everything from his wife Marjorie's longstanding drinking problem to his persistent financial woes. The authors quote an early colleague of Brennan's who says "he never told you anything about himself," and later, a former clerk explaining that "so much of who he really was was covered up by the backslapping leprechaun exterior." It seems that throughout his life, Brennan made an art of being opaque. The burning question has always been whether Brennan's influence on the Warren court - which engendered a revolution that has yet to be fully reversed all these years later - was as dramatic and outsized as we've been led to believe. In "The Brethren," Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong described Brennan gladhanding and horse-trading his way to one victory after another, a depiction Brennan resented for portraying him as the archetypal "Irish ward boss." In the decades since, Brennan has come to be seen as an epic strategist and dealmaker who coordinated many of the Warren court's major decisions behind the scenes. Where this book truly soars is in its account of Brennan's skills at - as he always described it to his clerks - getting to five: finding a way to string together five fractious votes for some new principle or doctrine, or seeding some future principle or doctrine between the lines. It's clear from this biography that what Brennan did wasn't alchemy, even when it wasn't always perfectly principled. He emerges as so carefully attuned to the concerns and passions of his colleagues that he was able, time after time, to draft opinions, or help them draft opinions, in ways that could achieve five votes. BUT if "Justice Brennan" clarifies how Brennan accomplished what he did, it sometimes disappoints when it attempts to explain why. It's not clear what animated this man, what drove and moved him, and while the authors show us a Brennan occasionally at odds with his own doctrine - a champion of the free press who deeply mistrusted reporters; an advocate of women's rights terrified by the idea of female justices, or even clerks; a Roman Catholic less interested in attending Mass than in securing the church's approval - readers will find it difficult to understand such contradictions. Brennan was obviously influenced by his father, who rose from a poor Irish immigrant childhood to become a beloved city commissioner in Newark. Brennan was so determined to please his parents that he kept his marriage a secret for years for fear they would disapprove of his having wed before he could afford to support a wife. His service in World War II (and the death of his brother Charlie) affected him deeply, as did his complicated relationship with the church, although again, one is hard pressed to know how these early experiences shaped him or his jurisprudence. Time and again, the sense one gets is that Brennan was sensitive to the needs of the people around him, a kind of genius at providing what they wanted. At his Newark law firm Brennan represented business interests in labor disputes, although his father had at one time been one of the city's most famous union leaders. At 76, he married his secretary, Mary Fowler, only months after Marjorie's death, at which point his lifestyle changed completely and he began to travel and speak again after years of self-imposed isolation. There is no doubt Brennan was a committed liberal, and that on some matters - like the death penalty - his liberalism was a deeply felt conviction. But his story also raises questions about whether he in fact spearheaded the Warren court revolution for himself, for the country or because it was something that mattered deeply to Chief Justice Earl Warren. "Justice Brennan" is a scrupulously fair book, and readers looking for hagiography will be dismayed by Brennan's views of women (he once declared that were a woman ever nominated to the high court, he might have to resign). Similarly, Brennan's crushing disappointment in the performance of his famed colleague Thurgood Marshall will bother liberals who revere Brennan and Marshall as equal partners in a crucial period. "What the hell happened when he came on the court, I'm not sure," Brennan said, "but he doesn't seem to have had the same interest." Anyone who wants their liberal heroes to hold bone-deep progressive views will be frustrated by a Brennan who hated pornography but ruled it was permissible, and disapproved of abortion but protected it. The membrane between the great jurist's interior and doctrinal life may have been, in the end, more substantial than the membrane between himself and the rest of the world. Ultimately, "Justice Brennan" is a far more informative account of what the man achieved than why he did it. It seems clear he would have preferred it that way. Those who want their liberal heroes to hold bone-deep progressive views will be frustrated by Brennan. Dahlia Lithwick is the Supreme Court correspondent for Slate.

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 10, 2010]
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Congressional Quarterly reporter Stern and Wermiel, who teaches constitutional law at American University, have produced what will likely be the definitive biography of Supreme Court Justice William Brennan (1906-1997), arguably the most influential liberal justice in history. During 34 years on the court, he was instrumental in forming alliances with other justices resulting in majority opinions in such seminal cases as Roe v. Wade and Baker v. Carr (the one man-one vote case that changed America's political landscape). The book's strength is Wermiel's access to Brennan's private case notes (which are closed to the public until 2017) and dozens of interviews with Brennan himself. The case notes provide a detailed and fascinating account of how the Supreme Court functioned during Brennan's long tenure (from 1956 to 1990) that easily outshines recent high-profile books purporting to break the Court's seal of secrecy. Nowhere will readers find a better explanation of how the mix of personality and political philosophy drove, and presumably still drives, the Court. Both legal scholars and general readers will be delighted with this well-written, superbly documented biography, which may make liberals nostalgic for Brennan's court. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review

Stern, a Congressional Quarterly reporter, and Wermiel (fellow in law & government, American Univ. Washington Coll. of Law), a former Wall Street Journal reporter, team up to chronicle the career of U.S. Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, who served on the high bench from 1956 to 1990. Working from a repository of newly released documents and interviews with friends, family, colleagues, and Brennan himself, the authors show how he staked a liberal claim in the progressive side of the Warren Court, often invoking civil rights and privacy protections for minorities, women, and the working class. Especially revealing and insightful are revelations about the Court's inner workings, how the justices arrive at their decisions, and the infrequent yet riveting confrontations between Brennan and his conservative counterparts. The book is a historian's guide to the tactics and strategies behind many of the era's battles over the extent of constitutional rights and the legal struggles over such contentious issues as desegregation, affirmative action, school prayer, the death penalty, and abortion. VERDICT Aimed at a scholarly audience, this is highly recommended for academic, law, and larger public libraries.-Philip Y. Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Law Lib., First Judicial Dist., New York (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

Comprehensive biography of the Supreme Court Justice whose liberal agenda profoundly affected public policy in the second half of the 20th century.During his tenure from 1956 to 1990, William Brennan (19051997) provided more than 1,350 opinions on a wide variety of issues. As the subtitle indicates, Congressional Quarterly reporter Stern and Brennan expert Wermiel (Constitutional Law/American Univ.) focus on Brennan's legacy as a dedicated defender of those marginalized by mainstream America. His allegiance to those less privileged, as well as his use of charm and compromise to achieve goals, came from a childhood spent observing his Irish immigrant father, a union official elected to several terms as a Newark, N.J., councilman. The authors trace Brennan's life from corporate attorney to lawyer for the Department of Justice during World War II, subsequent selection as a state judge and then youthful appointment to the Supreme Court. The bulk of the book is dedicated to examining the forces at work throughout his tenure, and his deep, abiding passion for, and commitment to, human dignity. The authors balance differing accounts of Brennan the jurist and the man, presenting an evenhanded portrait of the affable but stubborn Justice. Stern and Wermiel thoroughly cover such divisive issues as racial integration, gender inequality, abortion, pornography, the rights of criminal defendants and upholding the death penalty. Despite his outward joviality, Brennan did not reveal personal insights with those closest to him, including his devoted clerks, but his true passion comes through clearly: his love for the potential power of the law to help or harm humanity. A canny consensus broker, though perhaps pedestrian in opinion writing, his legacy as a judicial activista term deployed both proudly and pejoratively toward Brennancannot be diminished. The book is dense, and although the authors take pains to explain legal terminology and implications of case outcomes, it may be tough going for those with limited familiarity with court proceedings.Intriguing behind-the-scenes look for readers with an interest in social justice, focusing on how one man's allegiance to guiding principles transformed this nation's judicial system.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by New York Times Review


Review by Publisher's Weekly Review


Review by Library Journal Review


Review by Kirkus Book Review