 The Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders renamed the courthouse in 1984 in honor of Associate Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, who had served in the building as Hudson County Assignment Judge from 1947 through 1951. Following the 1989 Supreme Court decision in Texas v. Johnson, which Brennan authored, veterans groups petitioned unsuccessfully to have the name removed, but the Freeholders unanimously voted to retain the name.
