Constitutional Law
Chief Justice Explains Constitution and Chooses its ‘Coolest Part’
Posted Sep 17, 2008 9:18 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. believes the Constitution’s plan for separation of powers is its most important part—but not its coolest provision.
The chief justice talked about the Constitution in a Constitution Day interview for the Washington Post that is apparently aimed at kids. The Constitution was signed 221 years ago today, according to an ABA press release.
Roberts said the Constitution’s split of power among the legislative, judicial and executive branches is more important than any one part of the document. But he had a different answer to this question: “What do you think is the coolest part of the Constitution that people do not really know about?”
Roberts responded with another question: “What could be cooler than the part about the Supreme Court?” He noted that the justices have lifetime tenure and are separate from the rest of government to make sure it follows the law too. “People may know that, but I'm not sure they know how rare and special it is,” he said.
The ABA has an educational online resource on the Constitution that includes an interactive feature with questions on voting rights and elections.
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Comments
Frank US
Sep 17, 2008 12:43 PM CST
Do John McCain, Sarah Palin or conservative republicans respect the moral foundations of our country? The U.S. Constitution is abused by conservative republicans at every turn.
U.S. Constitution: Amendment I - Freedom of Religion
Because of conservative republicans, your tax dollars are funding religious groups you may not agree with. To add insult to injury, conservative appointed judges have ruled that you do not have a right to challenge this expenditure.
Amendment IV - Search and seizure
Under the guise of court action against abortion, Conservative republicans had John Ashcroft subpoena all the medical records of literally thousands of women like you and members of your family. Conservative republicans invade your privacy every day by browsing your email and phone records. Unfortunately for all of us, they don’t appear to care about our U.S. constitution, and they certainly don’t care about your privacy.
Amendment X - Powers of the States and People
John McCain and conservative republicans have tried consistently to overturn States Laws. They used your hard earned tax dollars to destroy the will of the people of Oregon, and the famous “Death with Dignity” law; they lost, but undoubtedly will try again. Conservative republicans and John McCain do not respect States Rights. If your state votes for something conservatives don’t agree with they will use federal powers to overturn it regardless of how you and your fellow voters feel.
Amendment VIII - Cruel and Unusual punishment
Would you rather die, or support a government which supported and sanctioned torture? The founding fathers would rather have died. The founding fathers were proud to fight and die for our government: A government which specifically outlaws cruel and unusual punishment. Conservatives don’t agree with this philosophy. Conservatives are at odds with our founding fathers on this score, and too many others to count.
John McCain, Sarah Palin, and the conservative republicans have already gone too far in destroying the moral foundations of our country. I urge you to keep this in mind in the coming election as we rebuild our nation together by voting for Obama, who stated that in his first 100 days he would eliminate all of Bush’s unconstitutional signing orders as a start.
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bk
Sep 18, 2008 6:53 AM CST
give me hard data when you take shots at Mccain like that; I don’t need the rhetoric
also, I meant to write “Breyer, Ginsburg and Stevens have injected more arbitrary and unreasonable encrustations into US law than any conservative justice - or any conservative, period.”
my bad
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ELLEN BARSHEVSKY
Sep 18, 2008 6:45 PM CST
When I went to law school, I could not understand constituional law. All the cases were about different things and I really didn’t get the hange of things in time for the final. But I later learned to understand what was going on, but there was only limited constituional issues on the bar exam the first time I took it.
I really like constitutional legal issues, and wish I had figured out earlier how to better apply these concepts.
I think the seperation of powers is very important and do NOT understand why some people want to do away with this by giving more power to the executive branch, and less to the Judicial branch.
It is helpful to have Mr. Roberts to explain all of this to us. Thank you, Mr. Roberts.
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