Interview with former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan

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Description:

Part 1: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan talks about his family history, his father and mother, attending Catholic school, and the University of Detroit Law School, opening his own law practice, being elected to the Common Pleas Court, being appointed to the Circuit Court by Governor Romney in 1963, being elected to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1966, and becoming Chief Justice in 1969. Brennan says that practicing law prepared him well for the rigors of being a judge. Justice Brennan also discusses what he calls "the myth of non-partisanship, the nature of democracy, the political nature of the selection of Chief Justice, the notion of representation in a democracy, the nature of leadership, the establishment of the State Appellate Defenders Office, the creation of the State Bar Grievance Board in 1969, the election process for judges in the Detroit area, the establishment of a Criminal division of the Detroit District Court, economic stability, civil disorder, and the 1967 race riots in Detroit. Part 2: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas Brennan talks about judicial activism and the prospective vs. retrospective changing of Common Law, using humor in writing court opinions, and making decisions by law or by conscience in a judicial context and whether his Catholicism is an issue in performing his public duties. Brennan also discusses the controversy surrounding his founding of the Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Lansing and the school's mission of offering practical scholarship to a broad and diverse study body. Part 3: Michigan Supreme Court Justice Thomas E. Brennan talks about a case concerning the apportionment of the Michigan Legislature in the 1970s, having his portrait presented to the Michigan Supreme Court in 1980, and his activities since leaving the court in 1973.

Date Created:

1991-01-01T00:00:00Z

Data Provider:

Michigan State University. Libraries

Collection:

Interviews with Michigan State Supreme Court Justices

Place:

Michigan, Michigan, Michigan, Lansing, Michigan, Michigan, Michigan, and Michigan

Subject Topic:

Officials and employees, Apportionment (Election law), Common law, Interpretation and construction, Judicial process, Religion, Law, Study and teaching, History, Judges, Judges, Officials and employees, Selection and appointment, Judges, Selection and appointment, Judges, Election, Discipline, and Political questions and judicial power

Subject Name:

Brennan, Thomas E., 1929-, Michigan, Supreme Court, Brennan, Thomas E., 1929-, Brennan, Thomas E., 1929-, Thomas M. Cooley Law School, Brennan, Thomas E., 1929-, Michigan, Supreme Court, and State Bar of Michigan

Subject Genre:

Interviews, Interviews, Portraits, Interviews, and Biography

Language:

English

Rights:

In Copyright

URL:

https://n2t.net/ark:/85335/m5rr1pm5g