733902
William J. Brennan, Jr.
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William Joseph Brennan, Jr., 1906-1997. Associate Justice, Supreme Court of the United States. Scarce Autograph Note Signed with initials, Sincerely / WJBJr., Washington, D.C., no date [June 1980]. With original envelope addressed, for hand delivery, in another hand.
Brennan writes on an engraved Supreme Court card to the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Michael Rodak, Jr., to send condolences on the death of his father. In full: “Dear Mike / I was saddened to hear just now from the Chief that your father died yesterday. Please accept from Mrs. Brennan and myself our deepest sympathy.”
Pieces such as this are very difficult to find, for two reasons. First, Brennan is scarce in holographic pieces. Much of the Brennan material available consists of short typed letters, often sending his autograph, and souvenir pieces such as signed covers or cards. Second, this piece offers a rare inside glimpse at the personalities of the Supreme Court.
Brennan, a Democrat, was the most liberal, and most influential, justice of the modern Supreme Court. The Republican who appointed him, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, publicly complained later that the appointment was a mistake. But in a tribute to Brennan following his death, Harvard law professor Laurence H. Tribe called Brennan “the principal architect of the nation’s system for protecting individual rights.” Brennan, he said, “played the pivotal role in . . . building an enduring edifice of common sense and uncommon wisdom that transformed the landscape of America.”
The American ideal of democracy—one person, one vote—flows from Brennan’s opinion in Baker v. Carr (1962), which allowed a federal constitutional challenge to a Tennessee apportionment statute denying equal protection of the laws. Brennan articulated the modern conception of free speech, weighing the rights of the press against the rights of public persons, in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), which held that, under the First Amendment, public officials may not recover for defamation unless the speaker either knew that his statements were false or acted with reckless disregard for whether they were false. Brennan was typically eloquent in Texas v. Johnson (1989), which held that the state could not punish a person for burning the American flag in protest.
Brennan, the son of Irish immigrants, grew up in New Jersey. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1931. He practiced law in New Jersey before being appointed a state trial judge. He became an appellate judge in 1951, and the next year he was appointed to the New Jersey Supreme Court. Although Brennan was a Democrat, President Eisenhower appointed him an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1956.
During nearly 34 years on the Court, Brennan served with 22 other justices, one-fifth of those who had ever served. He wrote an astounding 1,573 opinions: 533 majority opinions, 694 dissents, and 346 concurrences.
Brennan has penned and signed this note boldly in blue ballpoint. It is in extra fine condition—absolutely pristine. The accompanying envelope has been opened without being torn. It has file holes in the flap but overall is in fine to very fine condition.
Unframed.
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