(1856–1941). Intellectual prowess and an abiding concern for the rights of individuals distinguished the legal career of Louis Brandeis. President Woodrow Wilson, who nominated Brandeis to the Supreme Court of the United States, said, “A talk with Brandeis always sweeps the cobwebs out of one's mind.” Louis Dembitz Brandeis was born in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 13, 1856. His parents, Adolph and Fredericka Dembitz Brandeis, immigrants from Prague (now in the Czech Republic), were married in Madison, Ind., in 1849. Louis was the youngest of four children—two girls and two boys. He made an outstanding scholastic record in the public schools of Louisville and at the Annen Realschule in Dresden, Germany. Admitted to Harvard Law School without a college degree, he was graduated with record-breaking grades while still under the age of 21. After practicing law for a short time in St. Louis, Mo., Brandeis grew to be a leader of the Boston bar. Giving his time and talents without pay in matters of public interest, he became known as the attorney for the people. He was responsible for many social and economic reforms and for savings bank insurance, an economic protection plan for workingmen. His book ‘Other People's Money—And How the Bankers Use It' (1914) helped strengthen the federal antitrust laws. In 1891 Brandeis married Alice Goldmark of New York City. They had two daughters. Brandeis served from 1916 to 1939 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. He retired on Feb. 13, 1939. He died in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 5, 1941. |