On this day: Louis D. Brandeis dies

As a Supreme Court judge Brandeis fought for civil liberties and defended the right to free speech. Outside of his legal life, he was a giant of early American Zionism, taking on the role of Chairperson of the Provisional Executive Committee for General Zionist Affairs.

A dispute with Chaim Weizmann saw him withdraw from the forefront of Zionism, but it never stopped being of importance to him and in he left half of his estate to the cause of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine.

He stepped down from the Supreme Court in 1939 and died of a heart attack two years later. In 1948 Brandeis University, near Boston, was founded in his honour.

Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah, said of him: “He will remain an inspiration…to each of us who have been privileged to work under his direction and to feel the magic of his prophetic ardour.”

What the JC said: Zionists had always been able to turn to Louis Brandeis for wise counsel and lofty moral outlook. He was the greatest Jew the American community had so far produced…there could be no doubt that his views carried great weight in the cousels of his country in the critical months before America’s entry into the last war.

See more from the JC archives here