Louis D. Brandeis

The difference between a nation and a nationality is clear, but it is not always observed. Likeness between members is the essence of nationality, but the members of a nation may be very different. A nation may be composed of many nationalities, as some of the most successful nations are. – Louis D. Brandeis

Louis Dembitz Brandeis is a hero of mine. He served as the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice in the United States, but before that was raised the son of Bohemian Jewish immigrants who found home in Louisville, Kentucky after fleeing anti-Semitism from the Old World. Brandeis grew up enamored with books, music and politics. With his inborn intellectual curiosity, Brandeis moved to Boston where he enrolled at Harvard Law School. Though the youngest in his class, Brandeis earned the highest marks and graduated as valedictorian. These academic achievements were foretelling of his vocational success; in a matter of years he rose to prominence as one of the nation’s most reputable lawyers. As a champion of liberal progressive causes, Brandeis became known as the “the people’s lawyer.” With this moniker he pioneered the legal brief—later dubbed the “Brandeis Brief”—which marked a paradigmatic shift in the method of evidentiary argumentation and presentation before a court of law.

His steadfast commitment to the tenets of American democracy caught the attention of President Woodrow Wilson, who nominated Brandeis to the Supreme Court in 1916. Brandeis’ ascendance to the Court was met with prejudice; many believed that his religious persuasion would interfere with his judicial integrity. After an unfair and virulent campaign motivated by anti-Semitism prolonged his confirmation to the bench, Brandeis ultimately earned enough votes to serve. Despite all of the vitriol, Brandeis maintained a keen self-awareness of his multilayered identity; Brandeis was not only a stalwart for America but also for the Jewish people. He was proud to be Jewish, and believed that using his social and political influence to promote the welfare of his kin was “to be worthy of the Jewish name, of the Jewish heritage.” The Jewish jurist used his moral authority to become a seminal leader of the the Zionist movement. He served a prolific tenure as president of the Zionist Organization of America.

With immense pride for both his American and Jewish identities, Brandeis demonstrated the virtue of Jewish America. He proved how having loyalties to both America and Judaism were not mutually exclusive but instead mutually reinforcing. Brandeis modeled how these core facets of his identity, which were indelible to his upbringing and guided the course of his life, were more similar than different, more complementary than compromising. To Brandeis, the liberal values of America were akin to those of Judaism. And so: to be an American and to be Jewish meant to embolden and to enrich the other.

Brandeis reflected how the nexus between Judaism and Americanism is more of a symbiosis than a rift; he was the archetypal figure of their coherence. Throughout the course of his life Brandeis showed that to be a Jew and to be an American is not to sideline one at the other’s expense but to realize how their synergy forms a unique identity. He showed that one can be Jewish and a jurist. One can bench in synagogue and serve on the nation’s highest bench. One can be reputed “the people’s lawyer” and a leader for the Jewish people. One can produce the legal brief of modern America and support the cause for a Jewish state. In his life and legacy, Brandeis emulates the all-encompassing virtue that is the particularism and universalism of Jewish America. The Louis D. Brandeis Center, as the namesake of the Jewish jurist, demonstrates this virtue in its mission to “advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and to promote justice for all.”

America may not be the land God promised centuries ago, but it has been a land of promise for Jews for over a century. Recent events may challenge this belief. From Overland Park to Pittsburgh, anti-Semitism is a dismal reality that pervades modern America. Brandeis knew that all too well. But, despite this truth, Brandeis’ ownership and exercise of a Jewish-American identity should provide comfort that Jewish America is defined more by its virtue and less by its subjection to bigotry. For this reason and a variety of others, Louis D. Brandeis is a hero of mine.