Louis Brandeis (1856-1941) was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice for 23 years from 1916. He was nominated by Woodrow Wilson but the President’s choice was hotly contested. Writing for the New York Times in 1964, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas explained the opposition was because the nominee frightened the Establishment:

Brandeis was a militant crusader for social justice whoever his opponent might be. He was dangerous not only because of his brilliance, his arithmetic, his courage. He was dangerous because he was incorruptible. His crusades in public causes were not made for fees; he contributed his services, and he reimbursed his law associates in Boston for the time he spent on these sorties pro bono public. He and his wife were not socially or politically ambitious. There was therefore no way of seducing them into “respectability.” No network of corporate affiliations or retainers or directorships could tempt him or still his voice.

…The fears of the Establishment were greater because Brandeis was the first Jew to be named to the Court. The campaign against him continued unabated until he was confirmed…

…his stature as a man, as an advocate, as a jurist, caused him to tower above the scene. He helped America grow to greatness by the dedications of which he made his life…

According to biographer Jeffrey Rosen, Brandeis was the most farseeing constitutional philosopher of the twentieth century. The Justice worried about “the curse of bigness” in business and government.

Dead more than 80 years, Brandeis’ wisdom remains worth attention today. Examples:

• …the most important office, and the one which all of us can and should fill, is that of private citizen. (1903)

• If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable. (1912)

• …mere money-making cannot be regarded as the legitimate end. Neither can mere growth of bulk or power be admitted as a worthy ambition. (1912)

• Real success in business is to be found in achievements comparable rather with those of the artist or the scientist, of the inventor or statesman. And the joys sought in the profession of business must be like their joys and not the mere vulgar satisfaction which is experienced in the acquisition of money, in the exercise of power or in the frivolous pleasure of mere winning. (1912)

• Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants. (1914)

• Through size, corporations, once merely an efficient tool employed by individuals in the conduct of private business have become an institution-an institution which has brought such concentration of economic power that so-called private corporations are sometimes able to dominate the state. (1933)

• Fear breeds repression; repression breeds hate; hate menaces stable government. (1927)

• Decency, security, and liberty alike demand that government officials shall be subjected to the same rules of conduct that are commands to the citizen. In a government of laws, existence of the government will be imperiled if it fails to observe the law scrupulously. (1928)

• We may have democracy, or we may have wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both. (No certain attribution. A friend of Brandeis said it was spoken sometime before 1941.)