Events, Movies, SCOTUS, Stephen Breyer, Supreme Court

Movie Night With Justice Breyer

Justice Breyer screened one of his favorite films, then shared some thoughts on Bush v. Gore and Citizens United.

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Last week, I attended a most enjoyable film screening with Justice Stephen G. Breyer. The event, part of the annual film festival of the Forum on Law, Culture, and Society, took place at the 92nd Street Y here in New York. After the audience watched one of the justice’s favorite films, Justice Breyer sat for an interview with Thane Rosenbaum, the law professor and novelist who serves as director of the Forum.

What movie did Justice Breyer nominate? And what did he have to say, about such hot-button topics as Bush v. Gore and Citizens United, in the post-movie conversation?

We watched The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), the classic Western film directed by John Ford that stars Jimmy Stewart and John Wayne. Justice Breyer’s affection for the film makes sense given how much it focuses on the nature of justice. Set in the Wild West before statehood, the movie explores the difficulty of achieving justice in the absence of the rule of law.

The post-show conversation started off with discussion of the film. Justice Breyer gave this capsule summary of the movie: “Sometimes you have to be prepared to use force. If people are bad enough, you have to shoot them.” He cited examples from U.S. history — the Civil War, World War II, the use of army paratroopers to desegregate southern schools — to support his view.

At the same time, Justice Breyer acknowledged the problems with vigilante justice. When Rosenbaum asked him if there might be a virtue of taking justice into one’s own hands, Breyer responded, “If you’re thinking of taking justice into your own hands, my advice would be: don’t…. Taking justice into your own hands often results in no justice at all.”

This discussion led the conversation toward the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling in Bush v. Gore (2000). Justice Breyer criticized the decision as “wrong, unpopular, and important,” but noted that “there were no riots, there were no police trucks in the streets, there were no people throwing stones. And that is a tremendous virtue of our system.”

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Our system of government, while great, isn’t perfect. Justice Breyer offered critical comments of Citizens United, the ruling that liberals love to loathe. When Rosenbaum asked Breyer if Citizens United might have any “benefits,” the justice came up short: “People will have to work hard to find out some other way [to deal] with this campaign finance problem. I haven’t found too many yet.”

Politics in the wake of Citizens United might be more rough and tumble than ever, but over at One First Street, relationships remain cordial. Justice Breyer said that during his twenty years on the Court, he has never heard a raised voice during the justices’ private conference or heard one colleague say something negative about another.

Perhaps our elected officeholders can learn from the justices about how to disagree without being disagreeable.

(Photo credits: Bruce Gilbert.)

Supreme Court Justice Breyer Talks ‘Bush v. Gore,’ ‘Citizens United’ [New York Observer]
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance [92nd Street Y]

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