Ex-Justice Brennan Honred As ‘Hero’

Retired Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan was a beaming guest of honor Monday at a ceremony marking the inauguration of a legal center bearing his name at New York University’s School of Law.

“You, Mr. Justice, are our hero,” said Judge Richard Arnold of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, one of 112 former Brennan law clerks who helped establish the Brennan Center for Justice as “a living monument.”

“We love you. We love the United States. We love what you have done for every citizen of the United States,” Arnold said.

Brennan, 89, served on the nation’s highest court for 34 years before poor health forced him to retire in 1990. He ranks as one of the most influential jurists in American history.