The Annotated Bobblehead Justice Louis D. Brandeis

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Louis D. Brandeis, 1916-1913

Called the "people's lawyer" for his passion for public causes and his belief that lawyers should work for the people rather than wealthy corporations, Brandeis refused payment for certain cases. He is credited with helping create the American pro bono tradition.

Brandeis became the leader of the American Zionist Movement in 1914. He was not religious, yet envisioned a small egalitarian Jewish state in Palestine that would be welcoming to both Jews and non-Jews. Brandeis's nomination to the court was vehemently opposed by many, partly because he was Jewish. He was the first Jewish justice to sit on the Supreme Court.

The brief Brandeis submitted in Muller v. Oregon, 208 U.S. 412 (1908) was a pivotal moment in legal history. It contained very little legal precedent and relied instead on sociological data related to the negative effects of long working hours on women.

Brandeis was a strong proponent of free speech and the right to privacy. His dissent in the wiretapping case, Olmstead v. United States 277 U.S. 438 (1928), in which the Court upheld the government's power to wiretap, was cited as recently as 2015 in Obergefell v. Hodges.