William J. Brennan Jr. was born on April 25, 1906, in Newark, New Jersey. He was the second of eight children born to Irish immigrants. Brennan went on to become one of the longest serving, most influential judges of his time. William J. Brennan married
Marjorie Leonard as a undergrad and went on to have three kids- William, Hugh, and Nancy Brennan. In 1982, Marjorie passed away and Brennan remarried shortly after to his secretary Mary Fowler.
William J. Brennan jr worked very hard to become the judge he was. He graduated from Barringer High School in 1924. He then went on to the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania from 1924-1928 with a degree in economics. Finally he finished off his schooling at Harvard Law School where he was a scholarship student and graduated with his J.D(Juris Doctor) in 1931. Brennan was excelling in his school work and turned out to be one of the top in his class.
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Brennan served in World War II and earned the rank of colonel as well as legion of merit award. He returned to private practice and by the end of the 1940’s he accepted a Superior Judge Court position offered by governor Alfred E. Driscoll. A couple cases Brennan is known for is the 1970 case Goldberg v. Kelly, 1964 New York Times v. Sullivan, and 1972 Furman v. Georgia. He was a big supporter on cases that involved Affirmative Action programs, gender equality, and a woman's rights. Also along with his fellow jurist Thurgood Marshall, he was against the death