Louis Brandeis

Louis Brandeis became engaged to Alice Goldmark, daughter of Joseph Goldmark, a physician. They married a year later, in New York City, on March 23. 1891. They had two daughters, Susan and Elizabeth.

He retired from the US Supreme Court in 1939.

He died on October 5, 1941 following a heart attack. He was interred at the Law School of the ‘University of Louisville’, in Louisville, Kentucky.

Louis Dembitz Brandeis was born on November 1, 1856 to Adolph Brandeis and Frederika Dembitz, both Jewish emigrants from Prague, Bohemia. They moved to the US to escape the anti-semitic mood that existed during the Revolutions of 1848.

His family settled in Louisville. They practiced a liberal form of Judaism. He was influenced by his Uncle Lewis Naphtali Dembitz’s Zionist activism, and even changed his middle name from David to Dembitz.

Louis graduated from ‘Louisville Male High School’. He was awarded a gold medal for “excellence in all his studies” by the ‘Louisville University of the Public Schools’.

His family returned to Europe in 1872. He studied for two years at the ‘Annen-Realschule’ in Dresden, Saxony. He returned to the US three years later, and entered ‘Harvard Law School’.

Admitted to the Missouri bar in 1878, Brandeis joined a law firm in St. Louis. The following year, he set up the law firm ‘Warren and Brandeis’ in Boston, with Harvard classmate, Samuel Warren.

In 1890, he and partner Warren published the article “The Right to Privacy” in the ‘Harvard Law Review’. He argued that photographs and statements of individuals should not to be published without their consent.

In 1894, he represented Boston philanthropist Alice N. Lincoln in a case dealing with the pathetic condition of poor-houses. The hearings prompted the board of aldermen to introduce reforms.

In 1907, he set a precedent by introducing the ‘Brandeis Brief’ in the ‘Muller v. Oregon’ case, with only two pages on constitutional issues and 100 pages on the facts of the case.

In 1911, he gave speeches before the Economic Club of New York on ‘New Conception of Industrial Efficiency’, and before the Boston Central Labor Union on ‘Organized Labor and Efficiency’.

In 1905, he became counsel to policyholders who feared loss of investment and protection if their insurance company filed for bankruptcy. He formed the Savings Bank Insurance League to protect policyholders.

In 1907, Boston and Maine Railroad stockholders approached him to stop New Haven Railroad’s expansion through acquisition. Brandeis’ proof of New Haven’s fraudulent means prompted enquiry by the Justice Department, finally halting its expansion.

In 1908, in the ‘Muller v. Oregon’ case, he represented the State of Oregon arguing that working long hours was detrimental to women’s health and psyche. Consequently, a ten-hour time limit was fixed.

He was against big corporations taking over small business. In a speech to the Economic Club of New York in 1912, he pointed out that with monopolies, efficiency and quality drop, while prices increase.