Justice William J. Brennan, R.I.P. A Word from Geoffrey Surtees and Francis Manion
When the Great Famine of the 1840s was decimating Irish families, parishes, and towns, some unscrupulous zealots saw what they considered a unique "evangelical" opportunity: have the starving Irish Catholics renounce their faith in exchange for a bowl of soup. Those Catholics who succumbed to this temptation were ostracized and denounced for what was called "taking the soup," for giving up their faith in order to fill their famished bellies.
We are, of course, in no position to judge those who fell to such a temptation; as the adage goes, "there but for the grace of God go I," and few of us know what the eyes of one's starving children might compel one to do. But what of a man raised by hardworking Irish immigrant parents, baptized and nurtured in the Catholic faith, given the talents to excel in his education? What if such a man, upon being given the highest honor offered to any attorney in this country, and chosen for this position precisely because of his Irish Catholic identity, threw to the wind his Church's teaching on abortion, on contraception, on the very dignity of the human person? Such is what Justice William Brennan did; he took and drank heavily the soup of Planned Parenthood, the stew of liberal ideology, the gruel of the culture of death.
And for what? That he might be awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom; be recognized as a "brilliant" legal mind by the lawyerly elite; have honors and praise heaped upon him by numerous Catholic institutions across the country; be eulogized by President Clinton for being "the balance wheel who molded the Supreme Court into an instrument of liberty and equality during tumultuous times."
Like his Irish Catholic brethren, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, Brennan made well known exactly how he would live the Beatitudes in his public life, "As a Roman Catholic I might do as a private citizen what a Roman Catholic does, and that is one thing, but to the extent that that conflicts with what I think the Constitution means or requires, then my religious beliefs have to give way." Yes, Brennan's religious beliefs did give way (without the slightest sign of a struggle), most notably when he signed the death warrant known as Roe v. Wade.
Brennan was not the master of jurisprudence and reason that he has been lauded to be. He once wrote in a decision that abortion and childbirth, "when stripped of the sensitive moral arguments surrounding the abortion controversy, are simply two alternative medical methods of dealing with pregnancy." This is the equivalent of saying that robbing a bank and writing a check, when stripped of moral distinctions, are simply two alternative ways of withdrawing funds. Apparently, Brennan not only saw fit to dispense with his religious beliefs when judging from the bench, but to dispense with reason as well.
What about courage? Was not Brennan a brave fellow for standing up against the forces of the Church in defense of "constitutional principles"? Brennan declined to author the opinion in Roe v. Wade for fear of how the U.S. bishops and the Catholic community at large would respond. So instead, he worked diligently behind the scenes to garner support for the decision and even sent to Blackmun's chambers a 48 page memorandum indicating how Blackmun might tighten the language of the opinion. Blackmun's original opinion was too weak for the strident ideology of Brennan. In fact, the clerks of the Supreme Court included the 1972 abortion cases in a compilation of Brennan's writings for that term because "the [abortion] opinions for the Court were substantially revised in response to suggestions made by Justice Brennan."
To prove Brennan's zeal for the right of a society to slaughter its young, we need only consider his opinion that public funds should be used to support this right. When abortion on demand is not paid for, the government, Brennan wrote, "incurs far greater expense and . . . [pays] . . . the increased welfare bill incurred to support the mother and child." And so, Brennan, a Roman Catholic aware of the Church's teaching regarding the sanctity of life, would have us choose: the innocent child or the pocketbook? Brennan's choice was clear.
Justice William James Brennan took the soup. He gargled it; tasted it; and swallowed it with relish. May he rest in peace.
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