This Honorable Court: The United States Supreme Court
This Honorable Court: The United States Supreme Court
This Honorable Court: Inside the Marble Temple. A look atthe Supreme Court of the United States.
This Honorable Court: The United States Supreme Court
Paul Duke, When you re listening to arguments, how conscious are you of the precedents that that have been established by the Supreme Court over the years? Justice Byron White, If you didn t have some respect for precedent the law would be a shambles. No one would have any basis for reliance. I m on the downside of a lot of cases, I m in dissent. Everyone is in dissent some time, but hardly ever do you keep insisting on that position. You accept the decision even though you are in dissent and you are quiet. The next term you may have to write an opinion based on that precedent that you didn t agree with but now you accept. Justice Antonin Scalia, It s a little unrealistic to talk about the Court as though it s a continuing, unchanging institution rather than, to some extent necessarily, a reflection of the society in which it functions. Paul Duke, If societal attitude is indeed important, are you saying then that the Court follows election returns? Justice Antonin Scalia, No. Don t mistake me as having said that. I don t think societal attitude is important to my decision at all. And I doubt whether any of the other Justices would think that. Above all else, a judge is there to be a protection against, at least temporary societal attitudes. I don t consult the election returns or what the majority of the society or a minority of the society thinks about a particular issue. My only point is if the society changes, you are going to eventually be drawing judges from that same society. And however impartial they may try to be, they are going to bring with them those societal attitudes, in their heads, not because they re trying to reflect.
This Honorable Court: The United States Supreme Court
Protest outside Supreme Court Building, large crowd massed in front of steps, chanting in support of Gay Rights. Marchers and protesters carry signs protesting bias in the Court. Two employees of the Court looking out of upper story window of building. Marchers seen from inside a Justice chamber, pans from window to shelf of thick law books.
This Honorable Court: The United States Supreme Court
Professor Laurence Tribe, Harvard Law School, speculating on how the Founding Justices would address contemporary issues. surely they would answer that that s the wrong question. We ve left you am extraordinarily rich document in terms of which the questions are yours to answer. We ve played down some general principals. Those principals express intentions at a very general level. But you shouldn t try to figure out what we would have done if we were transported forward in time.
This Honorable Court: The United States Supreme Court
Justice Thurgood Marshall discussing the Constitution as a living documents that changes with time. I think those guys that wrote it knew exactly what they were doing. They were writing a living document. I don t want to be held to the same thing my father was held to. That would mean I d have to ride in the back of the trolley car. And I m not going to ride in back. In Baltimore I had a good fist fight about it. And I didn t ride. I think that s just a way of not recognizing progress as such.
This Honorable Court: The United States Supreme Court
Justice Antonin Scalia giving view of Constitution as a conservative document that must remain constant through social change. To regard the whole Constitution as simply an instrument into which the social consciousness of each generation can be poured, an empty bottle that can be given content by succeeding generations, I think destroys the whole purpose of the instrument. Its whole purpose is essentially a conservative one, to establish baselines of principle that the society cannot depart from without going through the enormous job of amending the Constitution. You destroy that function if you say it can evolve to reflect the current consciousness. You don t need to a Constitution to reflect the current consciousness.