Louis Dembitz Brandeis, Supreme Court Justice
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Brandeis’ nomination in 1916 to the Supreme Court was met with a great deal of controversy. His progressive political views and his religion were the object of derision and opposition from those who sought to keep him from the court. He was nominated during a time when antisemitism was widespread; the KKK was rising yet again (interestingly it was around this time that many of the Confederate monuments now being removed were first erected). Laws banning Jews and Blacks from admission were on the books of many organizations and neighborhood codes. He was recognized as being anti-big business (which he was) and declared a radical. Of course, he went on to become one of the most influential justices in Supreme Court (and American) history.

Here’s a particularly interesting insight that upholds one of Brandeis’ notable legal positions: “the right to privacy.” He saw billboards as a violation of the right because the viewer is a captive audience that cannot look away.

“Advertisements of this sort are constantly before the eyes of observers on the streets and in street cars to be seen without the exercise of choice or volition on their part. Other forms of advertising are ordinarily seen as a matter of choice on the part of the observer. The young people as well as the adults have the message of the billboard thrust upon them by all the arts and devices that skill can produce. In the case of newspapers and magazines, there must be some seeking by the one who is to see and read the advertisement. The radio can be turned off, but not so the billboard or street car placard.” Read More.

Here’s what justice William O. Douglas had to say about him:
“When the lines were drawn between consumers and the trust, he stood by the regulatory agencies. When the issue was joined between small business and the cartels, he sided with the former…Brandeis knew the people’s needs early – not by taking polls to find out what they wished; rather in the manner of the Prophets, he had been showing the dangers of monopoly and the way to economic democracy.”

It makes one wonder how might Brandeis have ruled in the cases of internet searches and advertising that we are now considering today?

— Rabbi Ron Stern