1
 When Justice William Brennan marks the start of his 34th year on the Supreme Court today, 
5001
span

2
the occasion will differ sharply from previous anniversaries of his tenure.
1
temporal-same-time

3
 For the first time, the 83-year-old justice finds his influence almost exclusively in dissent, rather than as a force in the high court's majority.
5003
span

4
 This role reversal holds true, as well, for his three liberal and moderate allies, Justices Thurgood Marshall, Harry Blackmun and John Stevens.
3
elaboration-set-member

5
 But are these four players, three of them in their 80s, ready to assume a different role after 88 years, collectively, of service on the high court?
5004
Question-Answer

6
 Every indication is that the four are prepared to accept this new role, 
5006
Same-Unit

7
and the frustrations 
5007
span

8
that go with it, 
7
elaboration-object-attribute-e

9
but in different ways. 
5006
Same-Unit

10
Justices Brennan and Stevens appear philosophical about it; 
5009
Contrast

11
Justices Marshall and Blackmun appear fighting mad.
5009
Contrast

12
 The four justices are no newcomers to dissent, 
5011
span

13
often joining forces in the past decade 
5012
span

14
to criticize the court's conservative drift.
13
purpose

15
 But always, in years past, they have bucked the trend 
5014
List

16
and have been able to pick up a fifth vote 
5015
span

17
to eke out a number of major victories in civil rights and liberties cases.
16
purpose

18
 Now, however, 
5017
span

19
as the court's new five-member conservative majority continues to solidify, 
18
temporal-same-time

20
victories for the liberals are rare.
5018
Same-Unit

21
 The change is most dramatic for Justice Brennan, the last survivor of the mid-1960s liberal majority under Chief Justice Earl Warren.
5020
span

22
 In the seven Supreme Court terms from the fall of 1962 through the spring of 1967, the height of the Warren Court's power, Justice Brennan cast only 25 dissenting votes in 555 cases 
5021
span

23
decided by the court.
22
elaboration-object-attribute-e

24
 Last term alone he cast 52 dissenting votes in 133 decisions, with the contentious flag-burning ruling as his only big victory.
5022
Contrast

25
 But Justice Brennan foresaw his new role, 
5024
span

26
strongly defending the importance of dissents in a 1985 speech.
25
temporal-same-time

27
 Each time 
5025
span

28
the court revisits an issue, 
27
elaboration-object-attribute-e

29
the justices will be forced by a dissent to reconsider the fundamental questions and to rethink the result, 
5027
List

30
he said.
5027
attribution

31
 Moreover, in recent months he has said 
5033
attribution

32
that 
5031
span

33
when he was on the winning side in the 1960s, 
32
temporal-same-time

34
he knew 
5032
Same-Unit

35
that the tables might turn in the future. 
5033
span

36
He has said 
5036
attribution

37
that he now knows 
5036
span

38
how Justice John Harlan felt, a reference to the late conservative justice 
5037
span

39
who was the most frequent dissenter from the Warren Court's opinions.
38
elaboration-additional-e

40
 Associates of 81-year-old Justice Marshall say 
5040
attribution

41
he was depressed about the court's direction last spring,
5040
span

42
 but is feisty about his role 
5041
List

43
and determined to speak out against the court's cutbacks in civil rights.
5041
List

44
 We could sweep it under the rug 
5043
List

45
and hide it, 
5043
List

46
but I'm not going to do it, 
5044
Contrast

47
he said in a speech last month. 
5044
attribution

48
 He, like Justice Brennan, considers dissents highly important for the future, a point 
5047
span

49
that hasn't escaped legal scholars.
48
elaboration-object-attribute

50
 Harvard Law School Professor Laurence Tribe says 
51
attribution

51
there is a generation-skipping flavor to current dissents.
5049
span

52
 The dissenters in the Warren Court,
5051
span

53
 he says, 
52
attribution

54
appeared to be writing for the short-term, 
5053
span

55
suggesting 
56
attribution

56
that the court's direction might change soon.
5054
span

57
 Brennan and Marshall are speaking in their dissents to a more distant future, 
5056
span

58
he says.
57
attribution

59
 Justice Blackmun, 
5057
span

60
who will turn 81 next month, 
59
elaboration-object-attribute-e

61
also seems feisty about his new role.
5058
Same-Unit

62
 Associates say 
5061
attribution

63
he takes some defeats more personally than his colleagues, especially attempts 
5061
span

64
to curtail the right to abortion 
5062
span

65
first recognized in his 1973 opinion, Roe vs. Wade.
64
elaboration-additional-e

66
 Friends and associates 
5064
span

67
who saw Justice Blackmun during the summer 
66
elaboration-object-attribute-e

68
said 
5065
Same-Unit

69
he was no more discouraged about the court than in recent years.
5067
List

70
 And his outlook improved after successful cataract surgery in August.
5067
List

71
 But his level of frustration showed in a recent, impassioned speech to a group of hundreds of lawyers in Chicago. 
5069
span

72
He concluded his remarks 
5070
span

73
by quoting, emotionally and at some length, 
5071
span

74
according to those present, 
73
attribution

75
the late Martin Luther King's famous I Have a Dream speech from the 1963 March on Washington.
5072
Same-Unit

76
 Justice Stevens, 69, is probably the most philosophical of the dissenters about his role, 
5073
span

77
in part because he may be the least liberal of the four, 
5074
List

78
but also because he enjoys the intellectual challenge 
5075
span

79
of arguing with the majority 
78
elaboration-object-attribute-e

80
more than the others.
5076
Same-Unit

81
 If the role 
5078
span

82
these four dissenters are assuming 
81
elaboration-object-attribute-e

83
is a familiar one in modern Supreme Court history, 
5079
Same-Unit

84
it also differs in an important way from recent history, 
5080
span

85
court watchers say.
5080
attribution

86
 The dissenters of the Warren Court were often defending a legal legacy 
5082
span

87
that they inherited, 
86
elaboration-object-attribute-e

88
says Prof. A.E. Dick Howard of the University of Virginia Law School, 
5082
attribution

89
but the dissenters today are defending a legacy 
5085
span

90
that they created.
89
elaboration-object-attribute-e

5001
span
5002
span

5002
span
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span

5003
span
5001
elaboration-additional

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multinuc
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span

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span
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span

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multinuc
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Question-Answer

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span
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Same-Unit

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span
5002
explanation-argumentative

5009
multinuc
5004
elaboration-additional

5010
span
5019
span

5011
span
5013
span

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span
12
elaboration-additional

5013
span
5016
span

5014
multinuc
5011
antithesis

5015
span
5014
List

5016
span
5005
background

5017
span
5018
Same-Unit

5018
multinuc
5013
concession

5019
span
5077
span

5020
span
5023
span

5021
span
5022
Contrast

5022
multinuc
21
background

5023
span
5010
evidence

5024
span
5026
span

5025
span
5027
List

5026
span
5020
elaboration-additional

5027
multinuc
5028
span

5028
span
5029
List

5029
multinuc
5038
List

5030
span
5034
span

5031
span
5032
Same-Unit

5032
multinuc
35
attribution

5033
span
5030
span

5034
span
5029
List

5035
span
5030
elaboration-additional

5036
span
5035
span

5037
span
37
enablement-e

5038
multinuc
5024
example

5039
span
5046
span

5040
span
5039
span

5041
multinuc
5042
span

5042
span
41
antithesis

5043
multinuc
5044
Contrast

5044
multinuc
5045
span

5045
span
5041
restatement

5046
span
5038
List

5047
span
5048
span

5048
span
5039
elaboration-additional

5049
span
5050
span

5050
span
5047
explanation-argumentative

5051
span
5052
Same-Unit

5052
multinuc
5049
elaboration-additional

5053
span
5052
Same-Unit

5054
span
5055
span

5055
span
54
elaboration-additional

5056
span
5054
restatement

5057
span
5058
Same-Unit

5058
multinuc
5059
span

5059
span
5063
span

5060
span
5058
elaboration-additional

5061
span
5060
span

5062
span
63
elaboration-object-attribute-e

5063
span
5038
List

5064
span
5065
Same-Unit

5065
multinuc
5067
attribution

5066
span
5068
span

5067
multinuc
5066
span

5068
span
5059
elaboration-additional

5069
span
5066
antithesis

5070
span
71
elaboration-additional

5071
span
5072
Same-Unit

5072
multinuc
72
means

5073
span
5038
List

5074
multinuc
76
reason

5075
span
5076
Same-Unit

5076
multinuc
5074
List

5077
span



5078
span
5079
Same-Unit

5079
multinuc
84
condition

5080
span
5087
span

5081
span
5019
summary-s

5082
span
5088
span

5083
span



5084
multinuc
5087
elaboration-additional

5085
span
5084
Contrast

5086
span



5087
span
5081
span

5088
span
5084
Contrast

