Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 21, 1990 TAG: 9007210130
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Brennan, who has served for 34 years on the Supreme Court, said he suffered a "small stroke" in recent weeks and that his "advancing age and medical condition" made it impossible for him keep up with the "strenuous demands" of the job.
During the past year, the short and frail justice had been plagued by a series of ailments and appeared wobbly on his feet at times. In the past two weeks, he fell in Newark (N.J.) Airport and struck his head, a Supreme Court spokeswoman said.
After consulting doctors, he decided that he had to step down. His resignation, tendered to President Bush in a letter Friday, is effective immediately.
Because Brennan was the guiding thinker and leader of the liberal wing, his resignation offers Bush an opportunity to nominate a replacement who will almost certainly have a profound impact on a host of intensely controversial issues.
Brennan's impact on American law was profound.
From the days of the Little Rock school desegregation battle to the recent decision upholding flag burning as free speech, Brennan has been the architect of rulings supporting civil rights, the First Amendment and women's right to abortion.
Particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, Brennan served as the voice of liberalism, the defender of minorities, women and the poor, on a court that was moving steadily to the right.
Now, many of those rulings, especially the right to abortion, may be subject to change - perhaps outright reversal. Bush could move to overturn the Supreme Court decision, Roe vs. Wade, which guarantees the right to abortion, if he should select and win Senate confirmation for an outright foe of abortion.
Four conservative justices of the court already say the right to abortion should be reversed and the entire issue turned back to the state legislatures. One more opponent of Roe would make for a clear majority against the constitutional right to abortion.
But an avowedly conservative appointment by Bush could spark a huge battle in the Senate, similar to the 1987 fight over President Reagan's nomination of Judge Robert Bork.
Speculation about possible successors focused on Kenneth Starr, a former judge on the federal court of appeals in Washington who is now solicitor general, the Department of Justice's No. 3 position and the government's chief advocate before the Supreme Court.
Few expected greatness of Brennan when he was quietly named to the court in the midst of the 1956 presidential campaign. President Eisenhower, trying to pick up support among Catholic and working-class Democrats, decided to appoint a little-known New Jersey judge who was an Irish-Catholic and a Democrat.
"A Happy Irishman."
But Brennan quickly became a behind-the-scene leader of what was known universally as the Warren Court, after Chief Justice Earl Warren. In the 1960s, the court insisted on the desegregation of public schools and colleges and expanded the rights of criminal defendants. Many rulings, such as the outlawing of school prayers and the requirement that police read suspects "Miranda warnings," spurred national controversy.
After the election of President Nixon in 1968, a series of Republican appointments moved the court to the right, but not as much as most observers expected. Somehow, Brennan still kept winning victories for the liberals. In 1973, the court struck all the laws forbidding abortion. In 1978, the court upheld affirmative action for blacks and other minorities.
In 1981, when President Reagan moved into the White House, the days of Brennan and the liberal court rulings were believed to be finished. But Brennan had a few surprises left.
by CNB