Eva M. Clayton: “last week, this Nation suffered a great loss. And because of that loss, those who favor freedom and believe in…”

“last week, this Nation suffered a great loss. And because of that loss, those who favor freedom and believe in individual rights and civil rights will not soon recover. However, while we lament the loss of Justice William Brennan, Jr., we also rejoice in his life--a life during which he spent more than three decades on the United States Supreme Court. This son of Irish-Catholic immigrants, Justice Brennan worked as a waiter to pay for his last year of law school. Born of modest means, he refused to accept mediocrity. He had hopes and dreams. He had goals. He had vision. He dared to be different and determined to make a difference. His classmates at a Newark, NJ, public school complained that because he took home so many of the academic awards, there were none left for others. His zeal for learning and his zest for excellence carried him through college--the University of Pennsylvania--and Harvard Law School, and those qualities characterized his entire legal career. But, despite his Ivy League education, he never lost touch with the average person. To him, every ordinary person was special, and every special person was ordinary. Perhaps it was because his father once worked as a coalheaver in the brewery, or because matters of concern to labor were central to his upbringing, but Mr. Justice Brennan had a way with words that gave life and meaning to the Constitution of the United States.…”