Louis Brandeis

Louis Dembitz Brandeis (November 13, 1856 - October 3, 1941) was an important American litigator, Justice, advocate of privacy, and developer of the Brandeis Brief. In addition, he helped lead the American Zionist movement. He was appointed by Woodrow Wilson to the Supreme Court of the United States in 1916 (sworn-in on June 5), and served until 1939. He was the first Jew to hold that office. Before his appointment to the Supreme Court, he was associated with the progressive wing of the United States Democratic Party, and published a notable book in support of competition rather than monopoly in business.

Supreme Court Justice

Overcoming significant opposition to his appointment, Brandeis became one of the most influential and respected Supreme Court Justices in United States history. His votes and opinions envisioned the greater protections for individual rights and greater flexibility for government in economic regulation that would prevail in later courts. In his widely-cited dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States (1928), Brandeis argued, as he had in an influential law review article prior to being nominated to the Court that the Constitution protected a "right of privacy," calling it "the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men." Brandeis' position in Olmstead became the law of the land in 1967's Katz v. United States, which overturned Olmstead. Additionally, Brandeis joined with fellow justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. in calling for greater Constitutional protection for speech, disagreeing with the Court's analysis in upholding of a conviction for aiding the Communist Party in Whitney v. California (1927) (though concurring with the disposition of the case on technical grounds). Brandeis's opinion foreshadows the greater speech protections enforced by the Warren Court. Brandeis also opposed the Supreme Court's doctrine of "liberty of contract," which often acted to shield business from government regulation on the right of employers and employees to freely contract with each other, and argued that the Court should adopt a broader view of what constituted "commerce" which could be regulated by Congress, forshadowing decisions such as 1941's United States v. Darby. In New State Ice Co. v. Leibmann (1932), Brandeis in dissent famously urged that the states should be able to be "laboratories" for innovative government action, in the face of the Supreme Court's frequent invalidation of state measures regulating business. Brandeis's views on "liberty of contract" would prevail in the long run, culminating in the seminal Supreme Court case of West Coast Hotel v. Parrish (1937). However, some people believe that the views on competition that Brandeis articulated in New State Ice, that the state must regulate competition because competition inevitably leads to monopoly, would today be rejected by mainstream economists and policymakers, and would likely be considered socialism. Others feel that his statements on this case don't favor any particular economic system; rather, they describe a proper structural relationship between the courts, the legislatures and the Constitution. He was urging deference to legislative judgments when fundamental individual liberties are not seriously threatened. He was showing a healthy respect for the vertical (federal vs. states vs. individual) and horizontal (judicial vs. legislative) separations of power.

Related Topics:
Olmstead v. United States - 1928 - 1967 - Katz v. United States - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. - Whitney v. California - 1927 - Liberty of contract - United States v. Darby - New State Ice Co. v. Leibmann - 1932 - West Coast Hotel v. Parrish - 1937 - Socialism

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As an octogenarian, Brandeis was deeply offended by his friend Franklin Roosevelt's court-packing scheme of 1937, with its implication that elderly justices needed special help to carry out their duties. Brandeis retired from the Court in 1939, to be replaced by William O. Douglas.

Related Topics:
Octogenarian - Franklin Roosevelt - 1939 - William O. Douglas

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