« Courts - "400 drunken-driving convictions in D.C. based on flawed test, official says" | Main | Ind. Decisions - Court of Appeals issues 4 today (and 4 NFP) »
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Courts - Justice Souter's Harvard Commencement remarks
Here, via the Harvard Gazette, is the text of the remarks Justice David Souter delivered at Harvard's 359th Commencement. And here is the entire event via YouTube.
Much has been written about the address, including, yesterday, this essay by Dahlia Lithwick of Slate that begins:
Almost two weeks ago, former Supreme Court Justice David Souter gave the commencement speech at Harvard, a speech that's been variously described by some of my favorite legal writers as a denunciation of "originalism," a defense of "living constitutionalism," and a suggestion that "judicial activism" is a game both liberals and conservatives can play. But the striking aspect of Souter's remarkable speech is that it rejected virtually all of these easy ideological labels and addressed itself to two much simpler questions: Is the meaning of the Constitution clear? And is the task of divining that meaning easy? These incisive questions themselves beg an even more pressing constitutional question: Why must justices first leave the bench before they can speak seriously about the importance of the court?Here, from June 3, is NYT commentary by Linda Greenhouse.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 10, 2010 11:00 AM
Posted to Courts in general