Brennan, William Joseph, Jr. (1906-1997), served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1956 to 1990. He was appointed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. On the court, Brennan strongly supported civil rights and individual liberties.
Brennan was born on April 25, 1906, in Newark, New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School. Brennan served on the New Jersey Superior Court from 1949 to 1952. From 1952 to 1956, he was a justice on the New Jersey Supreme Court.
During the late 1950’s and the 1960’s, Brennan, a liberal, wrote landmark decisions on apportionment, free speech, school desegregation, welfare rights, and criminal procedure. In the 1970’s, the Supreme Court began to become more conservative. As a result, Brennan often disagreed with the majority. He died on July 24, 1997.
