Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

David G. Dalin: Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court: From Brandeis to Kagan, Their Lives and Legacies

Brandeis University Press, 2017, pp. 384, Price: $35.00

  • Published:
Contemporary Jewry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. In a highly provocative assertion, Gombrich said, “Of course I know of many very cultured Jews, but, briefly, I am of the opinion that the notion of Jewish culture was, and is, an invention of Hitler and his fore-runners and after-runners” (Brix 1997).

  2. It is interesting to note that Frankfurter had requested that his Orthodox former law clerk, Louis Henkin, recite the memorial Mourner’s Kaddish in Hebrew at his funeral. He was quoted in the Atlantic as having said, “‘I came into the world a Jew, and although I did not live my life entirely as a Jew, I think it is fitting that I should leave as a Jew.’” (as Dalin notes on pp. 175–176).

  3. One cannot help mentioning that Justice Kagan humorously referred to her religious background in her confirmation hearings in what is still considered to be one of the great rejoinders in the history of Supreme Court confirmation hearings. When U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham R-S.C.), preparing to question the nominee about terrorism by discussing the attempted bombing of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 on December 25, 2009, asked if she remembered where she had been that Christmas Eve, she quipped, “You know, like all Jews, I was probably at a Chinese restaurant.” (as Dalin notes on pp. 265–266).

  4. As Dalin notes, Justice Kagan quoted Washington’s letter in her powerful dissent from the Court’s ruling in Town of Greece v. Galloway, 572 U.S., 134 S. Ct. 1811, 1853–1854 (2014), which permitted the New York town to have volunteer chaplains open each of its legislative sessions with a prayer.

References

  • Blaustein, Albert P., and Roy M. Mersky. 1972. Rating Supreme Court Justices. American Bar Association Journal 58 (11): 1183–1189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brix, Emil. 1997. The Visual Arts in Vienna c. 1900: Reflections on the Jewish Catastrophe. Austrian Cultural Institute, Occasions, The Austrian Cultural Institute London 1: 40. Retrieved from https://gombricharchive.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/showdoc28.pdf.

  • Farber, Daniel A. 1995. Reinventing Brandeis: Legal Pragmatism for the Twenty-First Century. University of Illinois Law Review 163: 177–184.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frank, John P. 1965. The Legal Ethics of Louis D. Brandeis. Stanford Law Review 17: 683–702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ginsburg, Ruth Bader. 2002. From Benjamin to Brandeis to Breyer: Is there a Jewish Seat? Brandeis Law Journal 41: 229–235.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kurland, Philip B. 1957. Mr. Justice Frankfurter, The Supreme Court and the Erie Doctrine in Diversity Cases. Yale Law Journal 67: 188–191.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, Frederick M. 2017. The Enduring Legacy of Louis D. Brandeis’s Free Expression Jurisprudence. Touro Law Review 31: 131.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sarna, Jonathan D. 1992. Louis D. Brandeis: Zionist Leader, Brandeis Review (Winter 1992). Retrieved from https://www.brandeis.edu/hornstein/sarna/americanjewishcultureandscholarship/Archive4/LouisD.BrandeisZionistLeader.pdf.

  • Schwartz, Bernard. 1995. Supreme Court Superstars: The Ten Greatest Justices. Tulsa Law Review 31 (1): 122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Solove, Daniel J. 2008. Understanding Privacy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steinman, Adam N. 2008. What Is the Erie Doctrine?—(and What Does It Mean for the Contemporary Politics of Judicial Federalism?). Notre Dame Law Review 84: 246–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Turley, Jonathan. 2009. The 9 Greatest Supreme Court Justices. American History Magazine. Published online on July 9, 2009. Retrieved from http://www.historynet.com/the-9-greatest-supreme-court-justices.htm/.

  • Urofsky, Melvin I. 2009. Louis D. Brandeis: A Life. New York: Pantheon Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warren, Samuel D., and Louis D. Brandeis. 1890. The Right to Privacy. Harvard Law Review 4 (5): 193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Phi Beta Kappa Society, 1606 New Hampshire Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, 20009, USA

    Frederick M. Lawrence

Authors
  1. Frederick M. Lawrence
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frederick M. Lawrence.

Additional information

My thanks to Ross Silverberg, Georgetown Law class of 2018, for his editorial and research assistance.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Lawrence, F.M. David G. Dalin: Jewish Justices of the Supreme Court: From Brandeis to Kagan, Their Lives and Legacies. Cont Jewry 37, 487–491 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-017-9244-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12397-017-9244-3

Search

Navigation