Justice Byron White and the Brethren

Abstract

In 1979, Bob Woodward and Scott Armstrong caused quite a stir in the legal world with the publication of The Brethren: Inside the Supreme Court. Over the years, the authors have maintained that five sitting Justices assisted them with material for the book, and the authors have identified Justices Potter Stewart, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., and Harry Blackmun as three of the five who provided assistance. Based on a conversation with Bob Woodward in May 2011, the author of this article suggests that the other two Justices who provided assistance were Byron White and William Rehnquist. The article relates the information obtained from Woodward, examines the history regarding Justice White and The Brethren, and discusses the “evidence” that Justices White and Rehnquist assisted Woodward and Armstrong while calling upon the authors to reveal more information to the public now that all of these Justices are deceased.