To the United StatesSupreme Court on january 28th 1916. In june of that year, he became the first jewish person to sit on the nations highest court. The third until 1939. Up next on American History tv, and commemoration of the 100th anniversary of his nation a Panel Including u. S. Supreme court Ruth Bader Ginsburg discusses his contribution to american democracy. This program in massachusetts, is about two hours. applause ladies and gentlemen please welcome, lisa m. Lynch interim president of Brandeis University. Good evening, it gives me great pleasure to welcome everyone, students, faculty, alums, trustees staff, and distinguished panelist and friend to this remarkable gathering here at brandeis the university. I want to welcome in particular some of our special guests. Massachusetts attorney general, congressman catherine clark, applause they senator michael baron, james elbridge, and karen silica applause , they representative david and jake offman, applause our very own mayor jeanette mccarthy, applause as well as city councillors kathleen and george, applause and i want to give a very special warm welcome to a member of our audience. Frank brandeis gilbert, grandson of Justice Brandeis. applause our centennial celebration of our namesake Louis Brandeis has been made possible by the dedication and inspiration of people to numerous to name. I must give us special shout out to brandeis class of 1957 alum, Jules Bernstein and his wife linda who first suggested the idea of the centennial celebration back in 2013. They got the ball rolling, and from the beginning theyve offer generous support, great wisdom, and practical guidance. I also want to thank dan terrorist, director of the International Center of ethics, justice, and public life, here at brandeis. Who has skillfully led the initiative and organizing committee. His knowledge and Organizational Skills have been instrumental and making the centennial celebration a reality. 100 years ago, on this day, january 28th 1916, president will joe wilson announced the nomination of boston attorney Louis Brandeis to the u. S. Supreme court. The fifth 59 year old brandeis wrote to his brother alfred quote, im not exactly sure that i am to be congratulated. But i am convinced all things considered, that i should accept. The public reaction to wilsons announcement was swift and explosive. Former president William Howard tapped, denounced president on nomination calling brandeis quote a buck wrecker, a motion alerts for his own purposes, a man of infinite cunning, of great tenacity of purpose, and in my judgment of much power for evil unquote. The New York Times complained that brandeis quote, is essentially a contender, us driver after change and reform, unquote. Yes brandeis was rather tenacious, and he certainly was driving to reform society. As a young lawyer he and Samuel Warren wrote in 1890 an extremely influential essay in the harvard law review that to find the right to privacy. For the modern age. In response to what they called, the olive to enterprising press, and new technologies that could be produced scenes or sounds. Later, when taking legal action to limit the number of hours that women were forced to work in certain industries. He invented a new form of argument, relying on data and evidence, not just legal theory. And the brandeis brief was born, and became a staple of american law. When the growing power of mammoth Financial Institutions threaten to overwhelm the interest of small investors, he argued eloquently for limits on the ways and which financiers could use other peoples money. Brandeis became known as the peoples attorney, for his growing practice of probono work and the public interest. He spoke explicitly about his commitment to social justice, an idea that he and other prominent thinkers of the progressive era, brought into the public lexicon. For more than four months, the battle over brandeis us nomination made headlines across the country. Some opposition clearly had its roots and antisemitism, brandeis was the first u. S. American to be nominated to the high courts. The Senate JudiciaryCommittee Held weeks of hearings, but according to the tradition of the time, the nominee himself was not invited to speak on his own behalf. On june the 1st, 1916, brandeis was on the train from his home office from his office in boston, to his home in massachusetts. When the Senate Finally voted, 47 to 22, to confirm his appointment as an associate justice of the Supreme Court. As the story goes, when he arrived home, his wife alice met him out the door with a new reading, good evening mr. Justice brandeis. Louis de brandeis served on the Supreme Court for 23 years, creating a legacy of brilliant and innovation through aspersions. His dissent and own said versus the United States which argued for limiting the governments use of technology to spy on its own citizens, continues to influence legal doctrine for their. His famous concurring opinion in whitney versus california, made freeman am of expression not just an active force in american life. But a constitutional principle as well. Brandeis was a champion for the dignity of all individuals, as well as a protector of active citizenship so that all could learn and freely debate ideas. In naming our university after this great justice, we have a responsibility to live up to his legacy. To quote albert einstein, brandeis is a name that cannot be merely adopted. It is one that must be achieved. And this is something which strive to do every day, here i brandeis you never city. Today began a semester long celebration of the centennial, actually called, louis de brandeis that and now. Over the coming semester in a variety of formats and daniels, we will explore here at brandeis, the ways in which justice brand isis legacy continues to influence and shape american law and society. I can think of no greater tribute to all the Justice Brandeis, and this is namesake university, stand for, that you are not great our celebration with justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. applause there are many striking parallels between Justice Brandeis and Justice Ginsburg. Justice ginsburg has dedicated her career as a litigator, judge, justice of the Supreme Court to advancing equality under the law. Like brandeis, ginsburg has used fact based jurisprudence brilliantly to advance social change and both have used their opinions and dissents to educate the public about the social conditions that affect peoples lives. But there are also key differences. When she enrolled at harvard law school, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was asked to justify taking a seat that could have been held by a man. She was one of only nine women in a class of over 500. After transporting to Columbia School she graduated to the top of her class but yet, she was turned down for every job for which he applied. But as Justice Ginsburg has shown countless times, from becoming the first tenured women on the faculty at columbia law school, to be recognized as a powerful voice on the court for equality, she is a force of nature. Under estimate her at your peril. As attorney and justice, her complements are too many to cover fully here. But some include extending the constitutions equal protection guarantee to women, ending pregnancy discrimination in the workplace. Assuring gender equality and Social Security benefits and striking down discriminatory admissions practices. applause yes, i think that deserves around of applause. Like brandeis before her, Justice Ginsburg has written passing it the sense that in essence say to the court and to the world, take a look at what is really going on in society with the life circumstances people face. That is what she did, for example when she dissented her recent decisions striking down the heart of the roads and Voting Rights acts and allowing Health Insurance coverage including womens right to a tireless voice for inclusion. Justice ginsburg has also become something of a pop culture icon. Known as the notorious rbg awesome. applause by her everexpanding fan base which is clearly here in this room, she continues to inspire the next generation of social change agents and visionaries. At Brandeis University our motto is truth, even onto its innermost parts. For this evening i propose to temporarily revise our motto to without truth, there is no truth. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming the one and only justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. applause thank you. Thank you. Please be seated. I so much appreciate the very warm welcome you have extended to me. Im here to talk to you for a bit about lessons i learned from brandeis. In these remarks i will try to convey his impact on me in my years as a lawyer and then as a judge. I will speak first of the brandeis brief, famously filed in mueller against oregon. The Supreme Court decided that case in 1908. The court upheld as constitutional a 1903 oregon law that prohibited employment of women and industrial jobs for more than ten hours per day. In briefs in 19 seventies, i described the mueller decision as an obstacle to Supreme Court recognition of the equal citizenship stature of men and women as constitutional principle. But while the mueller decision was one i tried to and do, the method brandeis used to prevail in that case is one i admired and copied. Let me explain why i applaud brandeiss method, but not the decision he sought and gained. In 1903, oregon adopted a law sitting ten hours as the maximum workday for women employed in any big mechanical establishment, factory or laundry. Promoters of that state law, the many hours for women workers, including labor reformers who first proposed an eighthour day for all workers. When that proposal failed to gain legislative support, the proponents settled for a measure limiting the hours blue color women could engage in paid labor. There hope was that a law protecting women would serve as an opening wedge leading and time, to protection for all workers. Portland laundry owner, kurt mueller insisted that launches emma got your work for more than ten hours on september 4th 1905. That date had significance because it was the day the state has designated labor day to encourage employers to give their workers a holiday. The timing and emma gotchers membership in the Laundry Workers Union suggested that mueller and fellow members of the laundry Owners Association aimed to create a test case. As it turned out, they did. Oregon prosecuted mueller for violating the state law after an unsuccessful defense in oregons courts secure, mueller asked u. S. Supreme court to take the case and declare the states 1903 law unconstitutional. Mueller had cause to be hopeful. In 1905, the Supreme Court had ruled five to four in lochner against new york, that new york had acted unconstitutionally when it enacted a law limiting the hours people could work from ten per day to 60 per week. According to the court, the hours limitation interfered with the right of bakery owners and bakery workers to contract freely, a liberty the court lodged in the 14th amendment. Due process clause, which reads, no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law. I was reminded of lochner, reading some decisions of the court concerning workers, consumers, credit card holders, who signed agreements saying if you have a dispute with us, you can bring it only in arbitration, not in court. And you cannot use the cost action device. You must sue for your individual claim, which might be 30 dollars. And thats it. That has also been described as tied to liberty of contract. The credit card holder signing the form. The employee signing the form. Getting back to mueller, the National Consumers league, led by social reformer, florence kelly, wanted to ensure that oregon would have the best possible representation. Kellys first choice was brandeis. But the league, while kelly was out of town, had set up an appointment for kelley with a celebrated new york bar leader, joseph choked. To kellys great relief, choate declined to take the case. He told kelly he saw no reason why a big, husky irish women should not work more than ten hours a day if she and her employer so desired. Kelly next went to boston to enlist brandeis. She was accompanied by joseph in gold mark, who was brandeis is sister in law. And gould mark was kellys associate in the consumers leak. Brandeis was then age 51. He said yes to the lead on one condition. He wanted to be organs council, not relegated to a friend of the courtroom, and he wanted to argue the case or early on the states behalf. Kelly gould mark made that happen. Brandeis and superintendent the preparation of a brief unlike any the court had seen up to that time. It was to be loaded with facts, and spare on legal argument. Joseph in gold mark, aided by her sister pauline and several volunteer researchers, scoured the Columbia University and new york Public Libraries in search of materials of the kind brandeis wanted. Facts and figures on dangers to womens health, safety and morals from working excessive hours. And on the societal benefits of shortened hours. Data was extracted from reports of factory inspectors, physicians, trade unions, economists and social workers. Within a month, gold marks team compiled information that filled 98 pages of the 113 page brief by brandeis. To show that oregon was no outlier, that it did nothing radical, brandeis first set out the statutes of the 20 states that had restricted womens on the job hours. He also listed similar hours laws enforced in europe. His basic intention the due process right to contract for anothers labor is subject to reasonable restraints to protect health, safety, morals and the general welfare. To convince the court, brandeis hat to distinguish lochner against new york. Bakers, the court had commented in lochner, a job category categorically overwhelmingly male, or no sense words of the state. Women, brandeis urged, or more susceptible than men to the maladies of industrialization and their unique vulnerabilities warranted the states sheltering arms. The briefs pattern, after a line or two of introduction, random is quoted long passages from the sources goldmark and her associates had supplied. Some of those sources would hardly pass go today. For example, brandeis quoted a medical expert reported, and the blood of women, so also in their muscles, there is more water than in those of men. Less imaginary, round eyes emphasize the effective over working women on the general welfare. Infant mortality rises, he told the court, while the children of married working women who survive are injured by the inevitable neglect. Your mothers the island directly attacks the welfare of the nation. On the benefits, brandeis dress that shorter hours allow women to attend to their family and household responsibilities. According to a source he quoted, free time for a woman is not resting time, as it is for a man. For the working girl, her return from the factory there is a variety of work waiting she has her room to keep clean, her laundry work to be close to repair and clean, and besides this she should be learning to keep house if her future household is not to be a disorderly value. The concern that shorter hours where im more contemporary residents sewing that maximum of our laws improve productivity the breeze bottom line decades of welldocumented experience and home and abroad, so that organs legislature had good reason to believe that Public Health safety, and welfare, would be advanced by limiting women speed work. To ten hours per day now council the laundry owner mueller, scarcely anticipated the mountain of social and economic material the state through brandeis would present. But muellers brief made a point that equal rights for advocate at my day embraced most of the disadvantages facing women in the labor war market arrive from society, not biology. Social custom not imperial ability here urged narrow the field or their endeavor. Ostensibly debris continued, organs law was framed in a moment interest. But it was intended mueller suggested, perhaps the limit and restrict womens employment in order to give a boost to womens competitors, for bluecollar jobs. Among men. The Supreme Court heard argument in the mueller case only five days after receiving the voluminous. Such a short time between briefing and argument would not occur today less than six days less than six weeks after argument these were days six weeks after argument, the Supreme Court announced its unanimous decision upholding our law, Justice Brewer who was a member of the five four majority, that invalidated new york maximum our legislation and walker, authored the courts relatively short opinion. Took the unusual step of acknowledging the copious collections of statues and reports domestic and foreign. And brand isis pre. He then put his own spin on the materials. The justice found in those materials confirmation are eternal decidedly unscientific truth about men and women history shows woman has always been independent upon men in the struggle for substance he he wrote. She is not an e