Justice Brennan

Justice Brennan is a sweeping and revealing insider look at court history and the life of William Brennan, widely considered the most influential Supreme Court justice of the twentieth century.

Before his death, Brennan granted coauthor Wermiel access to a trove of materials not available to the public until 2017. Wermiel also conducted more than 60 hours of interviews with Brennan. No biographer has enjoyed this kind of access to a Supreme Court justice.

Justice Brennan makes public for the first time the contents of what Jeffrey Toobin calls "a coveted set of documents," Brennan's case histories, in which he recorded the strategizing behind major battles of the past half century, including Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, the death penalty, obscenity law, and the constitutional right to privacy. Revelations on a more intimate scale include how Brennan refused to hire female clerks even as he wrote groundbreaking women's rights decisions; his complex stance as a justice and a Catholic; and new details on Brennan's unprecedented working relationship with Chief Justice Earl Warren. This riveting information will cement Brennan's reputation as epic playmaker of the Court's most liberal era.