William Joseph Brennan, Jr., served as a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1956 to 1990. Brennan, the first Roman Catholic to sit on the Court, had previously served as a judge and justice in the New Jersey courts. He is recognized as one of the most influential justices in U.S. history, shaping many of the Court's most important legal precedents.

Brennan was born on April 25, 1906, in Newark, New Jersey. He graduated from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce at the University of Pennsylvania in 1928. He then attended Harvard Law School, graduating in 1931. He entered private law practice in Newark and soon developed a specialty in labor law, negotiating contracts between unions and businesses.

During World War II, Brennan served in the Army, heading the Civilian Personnel Bureau of Army Ordinance. After the war he returned to his law practice, but in 1949 the governor of New...