Liberator In History: Louis Brandeis

“Our government teaches the whole people by its example. If the government becomes the lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law; it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”  

– Louis Brandeis

When Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote these words in 1928, they were a warning and a promise. At that time, the U.S. government had secretly authorized wiretapping in a case that would become Olmstead v. United States. Brandeis, dissenting from the majority, stood firm: if the state breaks the law in pursuit of justice, it undermines the very thing it claims to defend. He saw clearly what was at stake, not only constitutional rights, but the moral compass of a nation.

Born in 1856 to Jewish immigrants from Bohemia, Louis Brandeis rose through the ranks of a legal profession that didn’t always welcome him. Anti-Semitism shadowed his career, particularly during his nomination to the Supreme Court in 1916. He was the first Jewish person to serve on the nation’s highest court—a groundbreaking moment that was met with public backlash from political elites and even members of the legal community. Yet Brandeis never wavered. He brought with him not only legal brilliance, but a deep belief in justice, privacy, and the power of an informed and engaged citizenry.

Nicknamed “the people’s lawyer” for his tireless defense of ordinary Americans, he challenged monopolies, advocated for fair labor standards, and fought corporate corruption. To Brandeis, democracy was not just a system, it was a shared duty. He believed that the concentration of power in the hands of a few, whether in government or industry, was a threat to liberty, and that active citizenship was the antidote.

As our rights are once again tested and the rule of law stretched thin, Brandeis offers us a north star: integrity in the face of power. We don’t need to sit on the Supreme Court to follow his lead, we can uphold truth, protect the vulnerable, and challenge injustice right where we are, one voice, one action at a time.

Brandeis was not a liberator just for his time. His legal opinions planted seeds that would grow and widen the path to justice over a century. Today, his opinions reverberate in courtrooms across America, upholding a fragile democracy as new efforts to undermine it stare us down and shake us up.

Every bit a liberator for our time, Brandeis inspires us all to hold strong and firm, and face down the scourge of any authoritarian regime claiming to be above the law.