[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 190 (Tuesday, December 15, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H14897-H14899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNIZING 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF RETIREMENT OF JUSTICE LOUIS D. BRANDEIS

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 905) recognizing the 70th anniversary of the 
retirement of Justice Louis D. Brandeis from the United States Supreme 
Court.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 905

       Whereas the United States Supreme Court has played a 
     fundamental role in interpreting the Nation's laws;
       Whereas Louis D. Brandeis, born in Louisville, Kentucky, on 
     November 13, 1856, led a selfless career as a practicing 
     lawyer helping to create the pro bono tradition in the United 
     States through his devotion to public causes, becoming known 
     as the ``people's lawyer'' for challenging the power of 
     railroad, bank, and insurance company monopolies;
       Whereas Justice Brandeis was nominated an Associate Justice 
     of the Supreme Court by appointment of President Woodrow 
     Wilson and confirmed by the United States Senate in 1916 as 
     the first Jewish Justice of the Supreme Court;
       Whereas Justice Brandeis vastly contributed to 
     constitutional jurisprudence, particularly in the areas of 
     free speech, right to privacy, labor relations, and women's 
     suffrage;
       Whereas through the marshalling of evidence and development 
     of the doctrine of judicial notice, Justice Brandeis 
     concerned himself as a citizen, attorney, and Justice of the 
     Supreme Court with the power and role of education in the 
     Nation's democracy;
       Whereas Justice Brandeis supported the University of 
     Louisville and its law school (named the Louis D. Brandeis 
     School of Law in 1997) by contributing funding and his 
     personal papers and ensuring that the law school library 
     received Supreme Court briefs for its archives;
       Whereas Justice Brandeis provided the role model for public 
     service which served as the inspiration for the University of 
     Louisville adopting a public service requirement for all 
     students;
       Whereas Justice Brandeis resigned from the Supreme Court 70 
     years ago in 1939; and
       Whereas, to this day, schools, universities, the United 
     States Postal Service, and other institutions remember the 
     name of Justice Brandeis and commemorate his service: Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes the 70th anniversary of Justice Louis D. 
     Brandeis's retirement from the United States Supreme Court 
     and the significant contribution he made in United States 
     Supreme Court jurisprudence; and
       (2) directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to 
     make available enrolled copies of this resolution to the 
     University of Louisville Louis D. Brandeis School of Law for 
     appropriate display.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Daniel E. 
Lungren) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Tennessee.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 
5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Tennessee?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COHEN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution honors Louis D. Brandeis, one of 
America's greatest jurists and legal minds, on the occasion of the 70th 
anniversary of his retirement from the United States Supreme Court.
  In any listing of great Supreme Court justices, Brandeis would have 
to be among one of the top three. Among his lasting accomplishments, he 
has greatly influenced constitutional jurisprudence, especially in the 
areas of labor relations, free speech, right to privacy, and women's 
suffrage.
  Louis Brandeis was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to Jewish parents 
who had emigrated from Europe, having come from Bohemia after the 
Bohemian Revolution trying to create Bohemia as an independent state in 
the 1850s.
  After graduating from Harvard Law School at age 20 with the highest 
grade average in the college's history, he embarked on a legal career 
in which he devoted so much of his time and energy to important social 
justice causes--often pro bono--that he became widely known as ``the 
people's lawyer.'' Indeed, he pioneered the pro bono legal tradition. 
In a ranking of lawyers in America, he would have to rank among the top 
10, independent of his 23-year service on the United States Supreme 
Court. He was allowed to enter Harvard Law School even though he wasn't 
a high school graduate, and he graduated prior to the requisite age of 
21 and he was given his degree by special resolution.
  His significant contributions are so numerous that it would be 
impossible to discuss them all, but I will mention a few. In 1890, he 
and his law partner, Samuel Warren, published an article in the Harvard 
Law Review entitled The Right to Privacy, which is credited with 
creating the foundation for that right in American constitutional law. 
Brandeis felt one of the most significant parts of the American 
experience was people's right to be left alone and that's where the 
right to privacy came into his thinking as he expressed it in his law 
work.

[[Page H14898]]

  He took on the life insurance industry and J.P. Morgan's railroad 
monopoly. He was a leading advocate for stronger labor protections. He 
was a strong advocate for States having the opportunity to go into new 
endeavors and said that the States were the laboratories of democracy; 
that we had a number of States--today 50, less when he was serving on 
the Supreme Court--but that each had the opportunity to try some 
particular new idea and see if it worked so the other States could rely 
on the work of that State to see whether it should expand and be used 
throughout the country.

                              {time}  1145

  The laboratories of democracy were important as States, such as 
California, looked at medical marijuana and the other States could then 
learn, and that spread throughout 12 or 13 other States, but there was 
an opportunity to learn, rather than doing it all at one time and 
seeing if one policy fit the whole Nation. He was a chief economic 
adviser to President Woodrow Wilson, and helped develop the Federal 
Reserve Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. In 1916 President 
Wilson nominated him for the Supreme Court. He became the first Jewish 
Supreme Court Justice, where he continued his work on great legal 
issues and left a lasting legacy in American jurisprudence.
  Unfortunately, in his confirmation hearing, anti-Semitism was one of 
the issues that came about and was raised in the Senate. But our 
country overcame that, and he became the first Jewish Supreme Court 
Justice.
  Through this resolution we recognize and celebrate the 70th 
anniversary of the retirement of Justice Brandeis from the United 
States Supreme Court, and remember, with deep gratitude, his many 
contributions to our Nation's life and to the founding also of the 
State of Israel.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 905, which recognizes the 
70th anniversary of the retirement of Justice Louis Brandeis from the 
U.S. Supreme Court. There is no doubt he was a brilliant man, and he 
believed the law was best served as a vehicle to correct injustices, 
rather than a gateway to make money.
  Justice Brandeis was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1856, the son 
of Jewish immigrants from Prague, now in the Czech Republic. He 
excelled in the public schools of his hometown and later studied in 
Germany. He grew up in a refined and engaged household in which 
history, politics, and culture were discussed regularly at the dinner 
table. I might add that one of his early influences was his uncle, 
Lewis Dembitz, who I'm proud to note attended the Republican Party 
Convention in 1860 that nominated Abraham Lincoln as President of the 
United States.
  He enrolled in Harvard Law School at age 19, studied so hard that his 
eyesight failed. Rather than quit school, he paid fellow students to 
read his textbooks out loud so he could memorize their content. He 
graduated with the highest grade point average in the history of 
Harvard Law School at that time. He was best known for his work as a 
lawyer and justice, and while he eventually earned good money 
practicing law, he devoted most of his professional life to public 
causes.
  He argued cases and wrote treatises on privacy, labor relations and 
antitrust matters, and he assisted the Wilson administration in 
crafting the Federal Reserve Act and the Federal Trade Commission. He 
served on the Supreme Court for 23 years and issued seminal opinions on 
many of the subjects that consumed him as a lawyer.
  And yes, he did believe in States being the laboratories of 
democracy. I enjoyed the gentleman's comments of reference to my home 
State of California and, I might say, rather than choose the subject he 
chose as an example of California being one of those laboratories, I 
would suggest Proposition 13, or perhaps three strikes and you're out, 
as guiding lights to the rest of the Nation as to how we ought to 
organize ourselves. Unfortunately, my home State has forgotten some of 
those messages in the recent past.
  Mr. Speaker, Justice Brandeis was not without his critics, but this 
is not the time nor the place to air old grievances. Rather, we're here 
to honor a man, and so I would use somebody else as a reference point, 
William O. Douglas, who described Justice Brandeis as being ``dangerous 
because he was incorruptible.''
  I urge the Members to support H. Res. 905.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield as many minutes as the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth) needs. Mr. Yarmuth is the genesis of this 
particular resolution. He hails from the same city that Justice 
Brandeis did and brings this to memorialize this man's great talents.
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, in Louisville we are proud of many of the 
great things our most legendary residents have achieved. From Muhammad 
Ali's success in and out of the boxing ring to Diane Sawyer's 
groundbreaking work in journalism to Harlan Sanders' achievements as an 
entrepreneur, there's evidence of their legacies throughout our 
community. It's in the stories we tell, it's found in the history 
embedded in our neighborhoods, and it's seen on the banners hung in 
their honor throughout town. We are proud that our city has been home 
to people who have changed the world in the realms of athletics, 
literature, art, music, business, and, in the case of the man we are 
celebrating today, law.
  Louis D. Brandeis was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1856, the son 
of immigrants, and it was to Louisville that he would return throughout 
his life. It was from the cradle of the burgeoning immigrant 
communities of 19th-century Louisville that Brandeis began his 
distinguished career. He excelled first at Louisville's Male High 
School and then Harvard Law before beginning a successful career as a 
lawyer and academic. That led, in 1916, to the bench of the United 
States Supreme Court, when he was nominated by Woodrow Wilson as the 
first Jewish Justice.
  The achievements of Justice Brandeis, however, go far beyond breaking 
that ground. His legacy as a jurist and litigator has had a long-
standing impact, not just in the courtrooms and law books but in the 
lives of every American citizen. His accomplishments were far-ranging, 
and their influence resonates today and will do so far into the future.
  To those of us who treasure the First Amendment and its protection of 
free speech, we can thank the work of Louis Brandeis. To those who 
value the extension of equal rights to all Americans, we can thank 
Louis Brandeis. The right to privacy, groundbreaking work in the field 
of labor relations, successful challenges to once powerful corporate 
monopolies, the list is long and establishes Justice Brandeis' career 
as one well-deserving of our recognition in this House, a recognition 
he has not yet received in the 70 years since he retired from the 
Supreme Court.
  The work of Louis Brandeis deserves not just our honor but our 
attention. Though the battles we fight today may have changed from 
those of Brandeis' era, his work is rich and relevant for all of us 
involved in lawmaking. When few others would, Brandeis took on the 
powerful monopolies that caused economic havoc during the first half of 
the 20th century. He was continuously skeptical of large banks and 
their relationship to corporations whose failure could threaten the 
entire economy, and he helped develop the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 
which clamped down on the banking industry's most egregious practices.
  In his book, ``Other People's Money: And How the Bankers Use It,'' 
and in a series of columns, Brandeis warned his contemporaries of the 
dangers posed by massive financial corporations accumulating resources 
and using them irresponsibly, lessons that forewarned the economic 
crisis we faced in this country just last year. As a litigator, 
educator, philanthropist, and jurist, Louis Brandeis did nothing short 
of ensuring that the rights we now regard as commonplace would endure. 
His contributions are those for which the entire country should be 
grateful, and his legacy is something for which all of us in Louisville 
can be proud. In fact, his legacy in Louisville lives on at the 
University of Louisville, where the law school now bears the name of 
Justice Louis Brandeis.

[[Page H14899]]

  I join Justice Brandeis' grandson, Frank Gilbert, and the rest of his 
family in urging my colleagues to support H. Res. 905, recognizing the 
70th anniversary of the retirement of this legendary American educator, 
litigator, and jurist.
  Mr. COHEN. I appreciate Mr. Yarmuth bringing this resolution and his 
comments. I reserve my time.
  Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such 
time as I may consume.
  It is interesting that we have heard of Justice Brandeis' commitment 
to the First Amendment. One can only wonder what he would think of the 
current state of interpretation of the First Amendment where, 
unfortunately, it appears that we give greater protection to nude 
dancing than we do to political speech.
  One would hope that the Supreme Court, as we anticipate its decision 
in the most recent challenge to aspects of McCain-Feingold, might 
listen to some of the interpretations and wisdom of Louis Brandeis with 
respect to the essence of the First Amendment.
  One would hope that we would, once again, regain the notion that 
protection of political speech is at the forefront of the First 
Amendment, not an afterthought to the First Amendment, and that when we 
have gone so far as to have someone representing the Solicitor General 
of the United States, responding to a question in the Supreme Court, 
saying in response to the question, So, the law would give you the 
right to ban books if they said what is contained in the script of the 
movie that the FEC believes it has the right to stop during the period 
of time before an election, the response from the representative of the 
executive branch was, yes. If we have come so far that banning books is 
seen as something allowed under the First Amendment because of the 
pursuit of purity in political campaigns, then we have lost sight of 
the First Amendment as understood and expressed by Louis Brandeis.
  And so I would hope that as we look forward to the end of this year 
that we could look forward to a Supreme Court that comes to its senses 
and understands the essence of the First Amendment.
  Once again, I would urge my colleagues to unanimously support this 
recognition on the 70th anniversary of the retirement from the Supreme 
Court of Louis Brandeis.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, indeed, Justice Brandeis had a great impact 
on this country, not only as a jurist, as we've mentioned, but as a 
lawyer. And one of his innovations was something called the Brandeis 
Brief, where not only were precedents used to make an argument but 
social data, factual data about changes in society to support the 
Court's positions.
  Brandeis was not alive at the time of Brown v. Board of Education of 
Topeka, one of the great decisions of our Supreme Court, but it was a 
Brandeis Brief argument that was used to win that case, for there was 
little law on the subject that was favorable, but there was much social 
analysis and facts that helped the Court make its decision that 
separate, in fact, was not equal, and that we needed a change in this 
country that we had in 1954 that we're continuing to experience today.
  Justice Brandeis had many quotes which were of great significance, 
one of which is inscribed in the walls of Congress, I think just 
beneath this Chamber on the first floor. If you look up towards the 
ceiling, The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment 
by men of zeal, well-meaning, but without understanding. That quote, 
which is inscribed on the walls of Congress, is one that I've long 
thought about, and people making arguments that sometimes are well 
meant but they take away from the rights that people should have in 
this country and freedoms.

                              {time}  1200

  Brandeis also said we can have democracy in this country or we can 
have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few, but we can't 
have both. And that thought permeates much of what we debate in this 
Congress today and see as the differences in wealth grow greater and 
greater.
  Indeed, Georgia O'Keeffe, one of my favorite painters, and Warren 
Zevon, one of my favorite songwriters, singers and friends, would 
appreciate this resolution today, for the right to be alone, the most 
comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized man, was 
something Louis Brandeis espoused, as did O'Keeffe and Zevon. Justice 
Brandeis said the most political office is that of a private citizen. 
And I think we should all remember that.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen) that the House suspend the rules 
and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 905.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

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