Today in Supreme Court History: July 24, 1997

7/24/1997: Justice William Brennan dies.

Justice William Brennan

 

Comments

[Dan Schiavetta]

His father, a union organizer, got beat up and nearly killed by corporation goons in the 1890's. Presumably a formative experience for him.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Wikipedia says nothing about this, but he was born in 1906, so any affect on the son was pretty indirect.

[Dan Schiavetta]

You know what I mean.

He grew up hearing his father talk about it and saw the scars.

[Á àß äẞç ãþÇđ âÞ¢Đæ ǎB€Ðëf ảhf]

Are you making this up? Exaggerating what you read somewhere? Your OP said "presumably", which leaves room for doubt.

In short, no, I do not know what you meant.

[Dan Schiavetta]

I learned this when in law school, when Brennan was still on the Court.

I did find this: "As a ten-year old Brennan witnessed his father, a union organizer, carried home by his comrades, beaten and bloody, after an encounter with the Newark, N.J. police." Eisler, A Justice for All at 19 (1993).

Maybe that was a different encounter; the Eisler book came out later.

Either way, when Brennan heard civil rights cases in the 1950s and 1960s, involving people beaten up because of their beliefs, he surely was thinking, "That could have been my Dad."

[Bob from Ohio]

Ike's worse mistake.

[Dan Schiavetta]

The Constitution was written by men who saw others beaten up for their beliefs. If you're going to be an "originalist" . . .

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Justice Brennan was probably influenced by his father's experience much as Justice Gorsuch was influenced by his mother's experience as a polluter-coddling, ethically bankrupt government employee (and the manner in which she was treated for her shabby conduct).

Does that help you understand this?

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

My hobby is helping to shove progress down the throats of whining bigots, right-wing malcontents, and disaffected clingers. Has been for decades. Helping the liberal-libertarian mainstream win the culture war against conservatives has been fulfilling, enjoyable, important, and successful.

How has the culture war been going for you, mad_kalak . . . say, during the most recent 40 or 50 years?