ASSOCIATE JUSTICE LOUIS D. BRANDEIS - AUTOGRAPH - HFSID 175350

LOUIS D. BRANDEIS
Signature of the "people's lawyer", Louis D. Brandeis.
Signature: "Louis D. Brandeis", 4¾x2½ piece of paper. Louis Dembitz Brandeis (1856-1941) established a law practice in Boston in 1879. He became known as the "people's lawyer" due to his pro bono advocacy of public interests, including municipal railway monopolization, life insurance practices, public land conservation and maximum day labor jobs for women and children. Brandeis, who supported Woodrow Wilson for President in 1912, was nominated by President Wilson to the U.S. Supreme Court on January 28, 1916. After over four months, the longest in the history of a Supreme Court nominee, the Senate confirmed his appointment on June 1 and Brandeis was sworn in on June 5, 1916. It is said that one of the factors leading to the support of Brandeis' confirmation by powerful Republican Senator Henry Cabot Lodge was the probability that the popular lawyer would run against Lodge for his Senate seat in the November 7, 1916 election. This was the first Massachusetts U.S. Senate election held under the 17th Amendment whereby the people, not the state legislature, elected U.S. Senators. Brandeis, the first Jew on the Court, worked behind the scenes to influence President Wilson to support the Zionist cause and later brought Zionist matters to the attention of FDR. A progressive who was known for his anti-monopolist and anti-big business views, he retired in 1939 (after 23 years on the Court) at the age of 83. Irregular piece of paper. Fine condition.