Reason and Passion: Justice Brennan's Enduring Influence

Tom Wicker, Anna Quindlen, Alan Dershowitz, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, and a host of others offer tribute to Justice William J. Brennan's tremendous legacy in a collection of colorful, passionate essays.

During his thirty-four years as a member of the Supreme Court, Justice William J. Brennan played a role in shaping American justice and society that is equaled by few others. Holding to his belief that the Constitution must be interpreted with equal parts of "reason and passion," Justice Brennan created a legacy of decisions, opinions, and dissents of remarkable importance in the protection of the dignity of the individual. His contributions include the one-person, one-vote doctrine, a guarantee of equal rights for women, the Roe v. Wade decision, a revolution in journalism (New York Times v. Sullivan), and slowing the proliferation of the death penalty the longest string of sustained dissents in history.

Essays describing Justice Brennan's life and work are contributed by Tom Wicker, Anthony Lewis, Alan Dershowitz, Lani Guinier, David J. Garrow, Anna Quindlen, Nat Hentoff, David Halberstam, Derrick Bell, Laurence Tribe, Charles Ogletree, and others including six Supreme Court justices. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist provides a foreword to the volume, and Justice Brennan himself has contributed a piece reflecting on his remarkable tenure.

E. Joshua Rosenkranz is director of the Brennan Center for Justice in New York City.

Bernard Schwartz is a professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law.