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Article: Seven Justices, On Camera
- Article from:
- The Washington Post
- Article date:
- October 6, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightThis material is published under license from the Washington Post. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post. (Hide copyright information)
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For 34 years on the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice William
Brennan was the playmaker, the consensus-builder, forming coalitions
of five colleagues and writing decisions that would clarify the law
and, sometimes, change American society.
As his colleague Ruth Bader Ginsburg explains, "One of his
major concerns was to take the Preamble to the Constitution -- that
says, `We, the People . . .' -- and make that `we' an ever-larger
group. His idea was to increase the `people' who would participate
in our democracy."
Brennan also believed that the meaning of the Constitution is to
be found in the current day, not in the intent of its 18th-century
creators, as his colleague Antonin Scalia ...