Associate Justice William J. Brennan Jr.

William J. Brennan Jr. is the only New Jersey Supreme Court associate justice to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court after enactment of the 1947 New Jersey constitution. During his 34-year tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court, Brennan wrote more than 1,300 opinions and is recognized as one of the most influential justices to have served on the court.

Brennan was born in Newark on April 25, 1906. He graduated from Barringer High School in Newark, the University of Pennsylvania in 1928 and from Harvard Law School in 1931. He was admitted as an attorney in 1932 and as a counsellor in 1935. He practiced law and served in the U.S. Army as a judge advocate general before he was appointed to the New Jersey Superior Court in 1949. Brennan was elevated to the appellate division prior to joining the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1952.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower named him to the court in 1956, and he served until retiring in 1990 at the age of 84. He died on July 24, 1997 at the age of 91.

The William J. Brennan Jr. Courthouse in Jersey City is named for him, a statute of him stands outside the Hall of Records in Newark and a bronze bust of his likeness is outside the Supreme Court courtroom at the Richard J. Hughes Justice Complex in Trenton.