Supreme Court - General & Miscellaneous, General & Miscellaneous U.S. Political Biography, Associate Justices of the Supreme Court, Judges - Biography
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Overview
Justice Brennan: The Great Conciliator traces the various stages of William Brennan's life: his Irish Catholic upbringing in Newark, New Jersey; his service as a superb labor trouble-shooter for the army during World War II; his tenure as a New Jersey state judge; his bitter confrontation with Sen. Joseph McCarthy during the dark days of the Communist witch-hunts; and ultimately his career on the Supreme Court. Author Hunter R. Clark has used access to the justice's personal files, granted by Brennan himself, and dozens of interviews with law clerks, associates, and intimates, to fashion a revealing portrait of Brennan and the in-chambers workings of the Supreme Court.When he was named to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1956, he likened himself to a mule entered in the Kentucky Derby. But by the time he retired 34 years later, William Brennan was regarded as the seminal justice of the second half of the 20th century. Now the coauthor of the acclaimed biography of Justice Thurgood Marshall tells Brennan's story. 16 pages of photographs.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Clark's biography defends the jurisprudential legacy of Supreme Court Justice William Brennan, whose opinions have generally been more respected by laypersons than by legal scholars. Clark argues that Brennan's liberal decisions on free speech, the rights of women and minorities, electoral reapportionment, abortion and criminal defendants' rights have exerted a profound impact on public policy and jurisprudence. Brennan's Irish-Catholic, working-class roots in Newark, N.J., where his father was a trade union leader and politician, lent iron determination to his self-deprecating manner. He became a colonel and troubleshooter for army procurement during WWII, a New Jersey state judge and an outspoken, early critic of Sen. Joseph McCarthy. As Supreme Court Justice, Brennan was a coalition builder in the 1960s and fought a rearguard action during the Court's conservative retrenchment of the 1970s and '80s right up to his retirement in 1990. Drake University law professor Clark (Thurgood Marshall) shows that Brennan's decisions gave the guarantees of free speech and press unprecedented force. Photos not seen by PW. (May)Book Details
Published
December 7, 1995
Publisher
Citadel Press
Pages
340
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9781559722612