William J. Brennan Joins Supreme Court
William J. Brennan joined the Supreme Court on this day. Brennan joined the Court with an interim appointment, and the Senate did not finally confirm him until February 1957. (See his surprising comments at his confirmation hearing on February 26, 1957.)
During 34 years on the Court, Brennan would become the intellectual leader of what is called the “Warren Court,” after Chief Justice Earl Warren. Brennan wrote some of its most important opinions, including NAACP v. Button, (April 2, 1963), which protected legal advocacy by lawyers; New York Times v. Sullivan (March 9, 1964), which many regard as the most eloquent statement about the meaning of freedom of speech in a democracy; and Baker v. Carr (March 26, 1962), which held that the legislative apportionment was a constitutional issue and prepared the way for the subsequent decision enunciating the “one man, note vote” principle.
In the crucial passage in Times v. Sullivan, Brennan wrote that the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment means
“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.”
Brennan also wrote the opinion in Roth v. United States (June 24, 1957), which held that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment. Anti-censorship attorneys, however, found that the wording in his Roth opinion opened the door for further challenges to censorship. The result, from the Roth decision into the late 1960s was a steady expansion of freedom of expression for sexually oriented books and movies.
Read: Roger Goldman and Peter Gallen, Justice William J. Brennan, Jr.: Freedom First (1994)
Learn about Brennan’s life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1awF94wCf9U
Hear Justice Brennan discuss the Constitution (Advisory: he does not appear until 13 minutes into the video): http://www.c-span.org/video/?9541-1/influence-us-constitution
The NYU Brennan Center for Justice continues his legacy: http://www.brennancenter.org/
Learn more: Seth Stern and Stephen Wermiel, Justice Brennan: Liberal Champion (2010)