Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was the guest on the NPR show On Point this evening. The invitation to the show came because Breyer's book Making Our Democracy Work; A Judge's View has just been published in paperback. The conversation (the recording is about 52 minutes) was about these basic ideas:
* There is a respect for and confidence in the institution (no one rioted after Bush v. Gore) and we need to maintain that respect and confidence.
* Yes, the Supremes sometimes get it wrong. The Dred Scott case is perhaps the worst example. Over time the bad ones get overruled.
* The values in the Constitution are timeless. The world we live in changes every five minutes. It is difficult to figure out how those values fit in the changing world.
* Democracy is a participatory government. We must participate. We must listen to the ideas of the other 308 million Americans and do our best to explain our ideas.
* The book was written to explain what the Supremes do. That should be taught in high school civics class (and was when I was a senior).
The website has transcripts of parts of the show. There is also an excerpt from the book.
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