Posted on 05/02/2006 10:38:59 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
NEW YORK - The job of a justice on the nation's highest court is to patrol the boundaries of American society, not to decide what kind of society it should have, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said Tuesday.
People are suspicious of what the court does and think it intrudes into what they do, Breyer said.
"Democracy has boundaries, or rails," he said during a luncheon at New York Law School. "We are the boundary patrol."
The 68-year-old justice noted that the word democracy is not found in the Constitution. But the concept, he said, is there.
"When you understand this document has democracy as its heart, then you have an approach to answer specific questions," Breyer said.
The Constitution creates a structure that lets citizens govern themselves and decide what kind of society they want, he said.
In response to audience questions, Breyer said that there are probably decisions he has made on Supreme Court that he now regrets, but that he doesn't dwell on those cases.
His hardest and most stressful decision, he said, was in Bush v. Gore, when the court ruled on the outcome of the 2000 presidential election. He sided with the minority.
"The justices didn't shout at each other," he said of the process. "In fact, in the last 12 years I have never heard a voice raised in anger in the conference room."
Breyer, who was nominated by President Clinton in 1994, generally sides with liberal members of the court but also has been a swing voter.
As the junior member of the court for 11 1/2 years, one of the longest terms in that role in the court's history, Breyer was responsible for answering the door of the court's conference room.
At Tuesday's luncheon, he told the audience about one of the last times he performed that duty, just before Justice Samuel Alito was confirmed in January and became the new junior member.
Breyer responded to a knock from someone bringing coffee for Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative who is often on opposing sides of an argument with Breyer.
While Breyer dutifully served the hot coffee, Scalia commented on Breyer's long stint as junior justice.
"Yes, and I have gotten very good at it," Breyer replied.
"No, you haven't," Scalia joked.
Save a word, Mr. Justice, and just call them "God."
"No, you haven't," Scalia joked.
I don't think Scalia was joking. Isn't Breyer the guy who thinks he can use foreign law to interpret our Constitution?
Click the keyword breyer here or above , there are threads that have more illuminating remarks from him and others.
Correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the point of the constitution the to unify the colonies, which had fought bitterly for freedom from the rule of a foriegn goverment. While most of US common law is derived from England, the constitution is not. And to use foriegn law to interpert US makes a mockery of our sovereignty.
I guess Breyer always gives the same speech. He spoke at my law school recently and told the same Scalia/coffee story.
I found his speech to be very interesting - but he stayed away from any controversial subjects. He told us what a typical day is like for him and how the Court works (deciding to grant cert, going through briefs, sitting around the table at conference, etc). I thought it was fascinating.
But Breyer is a commie, make no mistake about it.
That's exactly the point Justice Scalia made in an interview I heard not long ago. Now if only someone could convince that idiot Breyer.
And all along I thought it was to interpret Constitutional law. How mistaken I have been.
"Democracy has boundaries, or rails," he said during a luncheon at New York Law School. "We are the boundary patrol."
If Democracy has boundaries, and You are the border patrol... THE LIBERALS ARE ILLEGAL ALIENS STREAMING ACROSS THE BORDER! DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!
Well, there's your trouble. The document has a constitutional representative republic at its heart, not democracy. Those who cannot or will not appreciate the difference have no business in government.
Breyer is an ass.
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