A Justice for All: William J. Brennan, Jr., and the Decisions That Transformed America.

Kim Isaac Eisler Simon & Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. 282 pp., $22.

Reviewed by Erwin Chemerinsky 

In their song "Mrs. Robinson," Simon and Garfunkel lament, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? Our nation turns its lonely eyes to you." No single line better expresses the scarcity of heroes in the late 20th-century United States. Kim Eisler's new book, however, tells of one modern hero: former Supreme Court Justice William Brennan. In an easily readable, thoroughly enjoyable biography, Eisler describes Justice Brennan's impact on U.S. law.

Eisler, the former assistant Washington bureau chief for Time magazine and currently the national editor for Washingtonian magazine, has written a compelling description of Brennan's public life. The initial chapter sketches Brennan's family background and his father's career as a labor and political reformer. The story in this chapter about how Brennan's father, as director of public safety in Newark, New Jersey, tried to control policc abuse, especially forced confessions, is noteworthy.

The book then traces Brennan's career as a lawyer, his work during World War II, and his ascension to the bench in New Jersey. It is interesting that there is so little in Brennan's early career that would have predicted his greatness. He is repeatedly described as a tireless worker, but not much distinguishes him from other highly conscientious lawyers.

One of the most intriguing parts of the book is the story of Brennan's selection for the U.S. Supreme Court. Eisler describes how at a Justice Department conference then-Attorney General Herbert Brownell heard Brennan give a speech on reducing court backlog. Brennan was a last-minute replacement for a more prominent colleague on the New Jersey Supreme Court.

A few months later, Justice Sherman Minton resigned from the Court, and then-president Eisenhower decided that his reelection efforts would be helped if he selected a Catholic to replace Minton. Eisenhower also wanted to nominate a state court judge to quell criticism from the Association of State Court Judges, which had noted a lack of former state court judges on the Court.

With almost no checking of Brennan's background or views except for a call to his local priest to ensure that he was a practicing Catholic, Brennan--who was a Democrat--was nominated by a Republican president.

The remainder of the book outlines Brennan's role on the Supreme Court by focusing on the most controversial and important cases--those that dealt with school desegregation, reapportionment, contraception and abortion, capital punishment, and affirmative action. For those unfamiliar with constitutional law, Eisler has provided a clearly written and highly understandable account of three decades of Supreme Court history. For lawyers and constitutional scholars, he has provided a great deal of new information based on his review of many former justices' papers and on interviews with clerks. For example, Eisler devotes a chapter to a fascinating account of Brennan's long-standing feud with Justice Felix Frankfurter.

Eisler's account of Brennan's career on the Court describes a man with a deep commitment to using the law to advance justice. Brennan viewed the Constitution as a being based on respect for the dignity of each individual and the need to limit government encroachments on personal freedom.

Eisler's biography confirms what has long been known about Brennan's role on the Court--that his greatest strength was his ability to put together coalitions for majority opinions supporting his views. Eisler describes how Brennan did this during the Warren Court era and how his role became increasingly significant as the Court's liberal wing diminished in size.

After reading Eisler's unauthorized biography, I was left with a renewed sense of Brennan's enormous contribution to U.S. law. As an effective champion of decency and justice, Brennan is most deserving of hero worship. He accomplished much and earned the respect of friend and foe alike. At the very end of the book, Eisler says, "About the only thing that can be said of William Brennan without starting an argument is that he was a truly beloved justice, adored by his clerks and those of rival justices. He was a man of unfailing politeness and consideration."

No man's life, let alone one that encompasses a career of almost 35 years on the Supreme Court, can be told in only 282 pages. However, Eisler's book is a wonderful way to learn about a truly great figure in U.S. legal history.