Pursuing Justice with Patience and Kindness

September-October 1997

WASHINGTON, D.C.—This year, the Center for Public justice is celebrating two decades of public service, giving thanks as much for what we have learned and received as for the service God has allowed us to render.

From the start, we have learned a great deal not only from friends and allies but also from those with whom we have disagreed. In this regard, the death on July 24 of former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. gives cause for reflection. Justice Brennan is known for having helped lead the liberal revolution of the Earl Warren court. He stood for individual rights against the government and sometimes pushed in his legal decisions for social reforms not entailed in the actual words of the Constitution. Brennan did not sufficiently acknowledge the rights and responsibilities of families and other nongovemment institutions and organizations. He went too far, in our estimation, in trying to change society by judicial decree. He had too narrow a view of religion and religious freedom. Nevertheless, from his life we can learn two important lessons about public service.

The first lesson is persistence and endurance. Brennan served on the Court for 34 years and learned how never to take a setback as final. It is true, of course, that a Supreme Court justice holds an office that allows for a long-term perspective. A representative to Congress must think in much shorter terms because of frequent elections. Ordinary citizens and interest groups may feel even less able to persist in the struggle for justice since even controversial issues seem to come and go so quickly.

Whether in the courts or in Congress, however, significant change does not come about through a single decision or a single legislative victory. Brennan stuck to his philosophy year after year and persisted in trying to implement it. Those of us with a different philosophy should learn to do the same.

A second feature of Brennan's life that offers a lesson is the way he related to others, including his opponents. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, certainly no philosophical soulmate of Brennan, remarked, "Brennan brought to the work of the court a personal warmth and friendliness which prevented disagreements about the law from marring the good personal relations among the justices" (Washington Post, July 25). U.S. appeals court judge Richard Arnold, who once clerked for Brennan, said, "His chief characteristics were kindness and love—to everybody." Civil rights leader Vernon Jordan commented that Brennan had "an abiding belief in the power of thoughts, thoughtful words and good will to reach understanding and solutions that more contentious methods cannot."

In this day when political battles often rage as hot-and-heavy fads, leaving too few constructive consequences after they quickly die out, we should take to heart these lessons from justice Brennan's life. In the pursuit of justice, defeats can wear us down, and that is why we need to wait on the Author of justice for strength and keep our eyes on God's principles that outlast our weakness. And we should always seek to deal with others in a gracious, kind, and understanding manner. This does not mean that the arguments need be less sharp or that differences may be ignored. To the contrary, the quest for justice requires confrontation. Yet there are different ways to be confrontational. During its next 20 years the Center will continue to seek to perfect the arts of endurance and reconciling generosity.

—The Editor