Interviewer: Welcome Brandeis! It's a privilege to have you with us today. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us. Just as a simple starting question, many know you as a legal mind and Supreme Court Justice, but fewer may know the actual philosophy that drove your work. How would you describe your life's mission?
Brandeis: Thank you for the initiation. I suppose at the heart of it, my work was about putting the law in service of the people.
Brandeis: I always believed that the law should not be a shield for the powerful - it should be a tool used to protect those who don't have access to influence. Whether I was advising clients, writing articles, or sitting on the bench, I was always trying to make the system more fair, more responsive, and above all else, more just.
Interviewer: That sense of civic duty is what led to you being called "The People's Attorney." You didn't just represent clients - you represented causes.
Brandeis: Precisely, and I wore that title with humility. I represented the working class, every-day citizens, consumers - people have who miniscule voice in the system. And often, I did so without compensation. The law should not be the playground of the elite. It should be a bulwark for those whose lives are influenced by systems they cannot control
Interviewer: You famously criticized large corporations and financial monopolies. Why was "bigness," as you referred to it, so dangerous?
Brandeis: Because it erodes democracy. When power is concentrated in too few hands - whether in business, a monopoly, or a corporation - it distances decision-making from the people. In Other People's Money, I warned about financial oligarchies controlling public institutions from behind closed doors. It wasn't business I so keenly opposed - It was unaccountable business. I firmly believed in small-scale enterprise, in community institution, in economic arrangements that actively valued human dignity over sheer scale.
Interviewer: That deep concern for human dignity shows up again in your landmark article, The Right to Privacy. What inspired that work?
Brandeis: At the time, sensationalist journalism and emergent technologies like photography were beginning to erode the private lives of individuals. My co-author, Samuel Warren, alongside me saw that people had very few protections. We proposed that the law recognize a new right - the right to be left alone. That right, I still believe, is foundational. Without privacy, individuals cannot properly think, act, or grow freely. Privacy is not just a legal protection - it's a condition for personal autonomy.
Interviewer: Your legal approach also broke new ground. In Muller v. Oregon, you submitted a brief filled to the brim with social science, not solely case law. That was a massive turning point in legal advocacy.
Brandeis: It was. That brief - what later became known as the Brandeis Brief - contained over 100 pages of data about women's working conditions. Why? Because law should reflect the actual realities of people's lives, and should not amount them to data points in a study or on a model. You can't argue over the constitutionality of labor hours without properly understanding the human input or cost. That case taught the legal world that facts matter, and that legal reasoning must evolve to meet the everchanging needs of society.
Interviewer: Your path to the Supreme Court wasn't smooth. Your nomination sparked heated opposition, including blatant antisemitism. How did you manage navigating that?
Brandeis: With unwavering resolve. I knew there were people who questioned not just my politics, but my faith, my background, my identity. But I sternly believed - and I still believed - that America is strongest when we embrace, not erase, our diversity. In my 1915 speech, True Americanism, I argued that loyalty to the ideals of liberty and justice is far more important than conformity ever could be. I never hid my Jewish identity. It was a source of moral grounding, not an obstacle to public service.
Interviewer: It's striking how you often emphasized responsibility alongside rights. That's not something we always hear in legal or political conversations nowadays.
Brandeis: Because it's easy to ask what we're owed. It harder to ask what we owe each other. But democracy demands that kind of introspection. It's not enough to simply vote or invoke rights - you have to actively participate, stay informed, hold power accountable. That's why I said, "Sunlight is the best of disinfectants." Transparency empowers people. But we must act on what we can observe.
Interviewer: Speaking of action - do you think the American Dream is still alive?
Brandeis: It could be, but only if we return to its ethical core. The American Dream isn't about personal fortune. It's about contributing to a just society while simultaneously building yourself up. It's about the dignity of work, the right to privacy, the duty to dissent when necessary. My dream was never to be wealthy or powerful. It was to live in a country where conscience, not capital, held sway. Where my voice had an impact.
Interviewer: That leads me to my last question. What would you say to someone today - someone who maybe wants to make a difference but feels powerless in the face of injustice
Brandeis: I would say: you're not powerless. The most important political office in America is that of the private citizen. You don't need permission to fight for fairness/ You simply need conviction, clarity, and the courage to follow through with what you know to be right. Justice isn't built in grand gestures or climatic moments - it's built in everyday choices.
Interviewer: Justice Brandeis, thank you - for your time, for your words, and for your service.
Brandeis: Thank you. Let's hope we continue striving - not just for laws that rule, but for justice that breathes.